Light Exorcist: Scions
by phabulousphantom
Summary: The sequel to Light Exorcist. Though they're supposed to be celebrating their two-year anniversary, Rin and Daphne find themselves running errands for Mephisto. Odd reports have been filed at the Hiroshima field office, and Mephisto has asked two of his favorites to look in on it. Unfortunately for Rin and Daphne, being a favorite means crossing paths with a new and powerful demon.
1. Chapter 1

Spirit didn't know where she was. Something told her that was normal for newly organized and summoned intelligences, but she didn't know how she knew that. Or how she knew that whatever spells had called her forth were not strong enough to bind her. Or why she wanted so badly to rip the windpipes out of the throats of the creatures standing around her in a circle and chanting. Or why they were called throats and windpipes or how she knew that they were.

It was all rather confusing to suddenly come into existence.

Assiah, she noted, was dark. Light came only from tiny pinpoints far above her and the raging, flickering bonfire that turned every object she set her new eyes on an interesting orange-red. There was light at her feet as well, a glowing that came from Gehenna. It was a seal, meant to summon her, in the shape of a five-pointed star. One of the lines curved ever so slightly inward. She knew it immediately.

The creatures' chanting continued nonetheless. Humans—she knew—cloaked in hoods and robes, standing around her and the bonfire. She didn't know what they wanted from her. She only knew that they had made a terrible mistake.

"O, wise and great spirit," a particular said, stepping forward from the circle of the others. "Lend us your power—"

" _And what do you offer in return_?"

Spirit was surprised at the strength of her voice, the way it made the very leaves on the groves of trees around them shudder, the flickering of the bonfire at her speech. The human creature hesitated, surprised as well, it seemed.

"Demon, we offer—"

" _I do not deal with insulars._ "

Perhaps they had been wise enough to discover her name and the spells to summon her. Perhaps they had had the collective power to actually draw her forth for the first time from Gehenna. But they lacked the power to contain her. They lacked the wisdom to see the imperfection in their summoning seal.

And that was enough for Spirit.

The bonfire went out.

The leaves rustled.

The bodies of nine men were abandoned on the northern face of Mount Misen, their windpipes ripped from their throats.

* * *

Typically, the first thing Daphne saw when she woke up in the morning was the framed photograph of herself and Rin at Itsukushima Shrine on their wedding day—the one in front of the Otorii gate where the photographer had caught Rin mid-sneeze and Daphne was laughing—but today, instead, she woke up to a big face full of Mephisto Pheles. So she did the only sensible thing.

She punched him square in the mouth.

With an _oof_ , Mephisto fell backwards, laughing and raising a hand to his teeth, which Daphne had cut her knuckles on. Out of instinct, she was on her feet, ready to fight, though there wasn't any need for that. Mephisto was a creep, but that was all.

"The _hell_ is wrong with you?" she asked, shaking out her sore hand and feeling grateful she had decided to sleep in pajamas. "Who gave you a key to our house?"

"Let us not forget that I am King of Time, Miss Lux," Mephisto replied, still chuckling, "and require neither keys nor doorways to be where I please." He hadn't ever stopped calling Daphne "Miss Lux" even though she and Rin had been married for almost two years. Two years that Friday as a matter of fact.

"All right, then," Daphne said and got down from the bed to go into the bathroom and rinse her knuckles. "What are you _doing_ in our house?"

"Do you always sleep poised to wake up and knock someone else unconscious?" Mephisto asked. Daphne watched in the mirror as he felt around his front teeth for a moment checking for loose ones.

"I'll do more than that in about five seconds if you don't explain yourself."

Mephisto looked up grinning and met Daphne's eye in the mirror, about to call her bluff, but she had already reached behind her head and summoned Castor from its seal on her shoulder. Her hand hung steady, waiting to fully draw the blade.

"All right, all right," Mephisto said, patting the air in front of him. "Let's not get too hasty. I have a job for you."

"I'm on leave," Daphne replied. She let Castor slip back into its seal and dried her hand on a towel before coming up to Mephisto. "No teaching, no exorcisms."

She'd taken the week leading up to the anniversary off for some much-needed downtime. Teaching regular students during the day, cram school students in the afternoon, and working as a senior exorcist first class for the Japan Branch of the Knights of the True Cross at night was rightfully considered by most to be too-full a plate for one person. Add being married to a half-demon with the same schedule and you had a recipe for perpetual exhaustion. Unfortunately, the school and the branch had only been able to spare one of them for the entire week. Daphne had drawn the long straw.

"It's more a favor," Mephisto said.

"I don't do favors for you."

The demon king smiled. "Now, Miss Lux—"

Daphne drew Castor. Fully this time. She angled the squared-off end of the blade at Mephisto's throat.

"I. Am. On. Leave."

The corners of his mouth curling, Mephisto titled his head so that the brim of his hat shrouded his eyes in darkness. It was a sinister expression, one Daphne was all too familiar with. She often forgot that Mephisto was not only a demon king, but the second most powerful. There was a reason both the Japan Branch of the Knights of the True Cross and True Cross Academy ran under his direction, and had for so many years. His true nature was so easy to lose under the poofy pants and purple hair.

"You may be on leave, but permission came from me. On both accounts." Slowly, Mephisto folded his hands over the handle of his umbrella. "And permission can be revoked. On both accounts."

Daphne lowered Castor, but she did not sheath the blade.

Mephisto smiled. "I don't think it's asking too much to have you look into a number of disturbances in Hiroshima, since you'll be headed to the prefecture anyway."

"Why not just contact the Hiroshima field office?" Daphne asked. It was true that she was headed south, but that didn't mean she wanted to accept. She and Rin were leaving Thursday afternoon for a long weekend on Miyajima to celebrate their anniversary. Not to do favors for demon kings.

"Because they are an office of degenerates," Mephisto replied, shaking his head. "And something about the nature of the reports reeks of trickery."

"Well, you _are_ an expert on degenerates and trickery," Daphne grinned, putting her blade away. She set her hands on her hips. "We'll look into it."

"Wonderful—"

"But." She held up a stern finger. "Not until Monday. I'm not working off the clock, even as a favor. We can extend our stay in Hiroshima a couple of days if needed. I'll make sure to find substitutes."

Mephisto chuckled darkly. "You drive a hard bargain, Miss Lux."

"You don't play a fair game," she replied. "It's the only way any of us can compete."

"I'll send copies of the field office reports your direction. You and your husband can look over them at your leisure." Swinging his umbrella up to let it rest on his shoulder, Mephisto gave Daphne a wink. "Don't forget."

Daphne simply pursed her lips in a weary expression. "I won't."

"Happy Anniversary to you~!"

With that, Mephisto disappeared, leaving behind a cloud of swirling pink smoke. Daphne fanned it away, wondering if the cloud was some kind of side effect of space-time travel or if Mephisto conjured it on purpose to go with his aesthetic. The odds seemed equal in either direction.

She'd have to see if she could get a couple barrier spells placed over the house to keep him out.

* * *

The second Rin walked through the front door, he knew something was up. The energy in the house was different. _Bad_ different. Like the kind of different that immediately sets a guy on-edge. The house was _not_ supposed to feel that way. Daphne was _not_ supposed to be working.

He found her in the second bedroom—the room they used as an office and a dumping ground for all the random junk they owned. She was seated at her desk that faced the door, her eyes locked on the screen, her studious face on, surrounded by the boxes of records they'd never unpacked, a half-dismantled bicycle, and art and pictures they hadn't put up on the walls even after two years among other things. The fact that the room was still a mess like the day they'd moved in had never seemed weird to Rin before.

"I'll trade you, you know," he said, leaning against the door frame.

Daphne didn't even look up. "Hm?"

"If you wanna work, I'll trade you." It was a stupid waste of a vacation otherwise. He should have known Daphne wouldn't know how to take a break. She probably hadn't taken a break her entire life. " _I_ don't want to…"

Smiling, Daphne lifted her eyes from the computer and looked at him. "I'm confirming our inn reservation and booking seats for our train, Rin."

He straightened. "Oh."

"What did you think I was doing?"

"I don't know," he replied, feeling a little sheepish as he came into the room and around the desk to stand behind Daphne. "It just feels like you're, you know, working."

She leaned her head back to give him a kiss, so he obliged. "No," she said.

It was then that he noticed the pink file folders stamped in the corner with the watermark for the Knights of the True Cross. He'd never felt so betrayed in his entire life.

"You dirty liar!"

He grabbed the file, but Daphne snatched it out of his hands before he could even open it. She was laughing, too, which only made him more suspicious. He tried to snatch the file back from her, but she put it behind her back.

"I'm not working," she said. "Mephisto brought this by. Something he wants us to look into on our way home this weekend."

"If that's true, then why won't you let me look at it?"

Daphne brought the file out and offered it to him, but when he moved to take it, she pulled it out of his reach.

"First you have to relax," she said.

Rin rolled his eyes, so Daphne gave him a stern look until he sighed, took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. "Happy now?" he asked.

Daphne gave him a peck on the lips and put the file in his hands. "Yes."

He wanted to grumble, but he couldn't now, smiling stupidly instead. Everybody had told him that after the first year of marriage, everything went downhill, but here he was with Daphne, going on year two, and while that wasn't a particularly _long_ time, it did count for something, and he was no less in love with her or her with him. It was cheesy, but he might have said he loved her more then than he had the day before, and more that day than the day before that. He suspected their upcoming anniversary was turning him into an even bigger sap.

"Mephisto brought these?" he asked.

Daphne took a seat at her desk again, so Rin pulled his chair over and opened the file to thumb through it.

"They're reports from the Hiroshima field office," she replied. "He said he doesn't trust them and wants us to take a look since we'll be down there this weekend."

"What's not to trust?"

The documents looked normal enough—just the typical filing any exorcist had to fill out following an exorcism. A log of events, detailed observations, notes on the type of demon, how strong it was, how it was exorcised, and a record of any damage caused to public or private property.

Daphne shrugged. "I haven't looked at them."

She finished her tasks on the laptop and shut it, stretching as she spun around in her chair to face Rin. She put her feet up on the seat of his chair on either side of his legs, so he let the file rest against her shins.

"They seem pretty normal," he said.

Daphne shrugged again. "It's probably nothing."

"It's never nothing with Mephisto."

She snorted. "That's true."

Rin kept reading, scanning the documents, though he didn't really know what he was looking for. Errors in filing? Bad grammar? Demons that had manifested that were out of the ordinary? The more he read, the more typical the reports became. In fact, they were almost identical to one another, which was odd, come to think of it. Daphne wriggled her toes underneath his legs and startled him. Rin looked up.

"You ready for dinner?" she asked.

Rin set the files down immediately. "Always."

Chuckling, Daphne got to her feet and headed into the kitchen. Rin rose as well, ready to follow. He couldn't help one more glance at the files, even though it was him who'd scolded Daphne for working when she shouldn't have. Something _did_ feel off about the paperwork, though he couldn't put his finger on what. Then he noticed what was weird.

In the final section, simply labeled DAMAGES, every last report shared the exact same word:

None.


	2. Chapter 2

Rin couldn't get the reports out of his head. Every spare moment he had, he thought about them. Over lunch, on the train ride home, in the first early seconds of the morning when he was awake but the alarm hadn't gone off yet. The stupid things were perfectly ordinary. But, of course, that was what made them so interesting.

The first real chance he got to study them, he settled in for the long haul, ready to stare at the ink on the page until his eyeballs went numb. The first real chance he got, though, was on the Shinkansen to Hiroshima that weekend. It wasn't until about the fifth time Daphne sighed that he picked up on the fact that the expression was directed at him. He looked up from his tray table and over at her, blinking to get his vision to refocus on something that wasn't text on paper right in front of his face.

"What?" he asked.

"Remember how you griped at me for twenty minutes on the platform that _you_ wanted the window seat?" She raised her eyebrows accusingly. "Twenty minutes of 'but Daphne you don't even _like_ to look out the window' and 'I had to spend all week in the office, so I should get to see the sun' and now _you're not even using it._ "

"I am technically in the sun," he replied, gesturing at the ray of light coming in through the window and falling across his chest. She just rolled her eyes at that.

"I would be in so much trouble if I was doing what you're doing," she grumbled, and folded her arms. She slumped down in her seat to close her eyes.

"Do you want to sit by the window?"

"No. My eyes are shut now. See?"

"I'll trade you, Daph."

She shook her head. "Nope."

Rin glanced outside, at the fields and towns passing by at a hundred and seventy-five miles an hour. As he looked, the buildings became denser, rose taller. The recorded voice came over the speaker system and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we will soon be making a brief stop at Nagoya. You will have only…" Rin stopped listening. The train slowed. He glanced back at Daphne in the middle seat of their row, her eyes shut. She was right. If _she_ had been doing work things, Rin would have been pretty pissed off.

"I wanted to get as much of this figured out as I could before we get there and have to start working on it," he said. "This is the first free time I've had."

Daphne didn't even crack open her eyes when she responded. "I'm not mad that you're doing work, Rin," she said. "I only wanted to point out the discrepancy between your words and your actions. With work. And with the window."

The train pulled into the station and came to a stop. Things beeped, announcements were made, people got up and grabbed their luggage and bags and departed the car, other people got on. A man took the aisle seat next to Daphne, nodding at both of them as he sat. The train lingered at the station for a minute or two, then started off again, rapidly gaining speed as it pulled away from the platform. Sheepishly, Rin watched out the window as it happened.

"You're right, Daph," he said softly. "I'm sorry. This isn't how I wanted to start our vacation."

She picked up his hand and touched her lips to his knuckles. "Thank you."

"I'll stop if you want?"

Daphne shook her head. "Keep studying by all means. _I_ don't want to look at them. At least one of us should know what's going on." Her eyes opened and she smiled at him, linking their hands together. "I'm happy."

"You're sure you don't want the window?"

She laughed. "I'm sure."

Rin was skeptical, but Daphne generally wasn't one to say things she didn't mean. She shut her eyes a moment later and rested her head on his shoulder. Comforted, Rin picked up the reports and studied until they arrived at Hiroshima Station.

* * *

From Hiroshima Station it was a quick transfer to a local train to Miyajimaguchi, and from there a short walk to the ferry port, where they boarded the boat that would take them across the bay to the island. The air was so much warmer this far south in spite of the cloud cover. Rin had forgotten about that. He and Daphne sat on the outside deck of the ferry to watch the approach to Miyajima. The terrible speakers on the outside of the boat combined with the noise from the engine and the wind made it impossible to hear the little program on the overhead about the shrine and Otorii gate.

"Remember how Yukio missed the boat?" Daphne asked, sitting back to look at Rin and laugh.

"Jesus, _yes._ "

Rin snorted and then cracked up just thinking about it. Yukio in his suit, shouting and waving his hands from the dock on the mainland side as the boat pulled away. Yukio running along the shoreline in his suit, red-faced and completely out of breath by the time he reached the shrine. Everybody had given him shit about it for the rest of the day.

Daphne cuddled up next to Rin, the wind blowing her hair so she had to tuck it behind her ears to keep it out of his face. "I'm glad we decided to do this," she said.

Rin put his arm around her shoulders. "Me too."

* * *

Suddenly, Spirit could feel them. She could feel them coming across the water. She had never felt beings like these before—two powerful pinpoints that only grew in power the further they ventured into her radius. Perhaps it was that she could simply sense them better the closer they came, but she could not be sure. She had not encountered anyone before who felt like they did.

Spirit shut her eyes. She shut her eyes and she opened her olfactory core, smelling, smelling the air. The pinpoints—they smelled like Gehenna.

Spirit swept down from the mountain.

* * *

For ease of travel on public transportation, Daphne and Rin had each packed a smaller, separate bag. For Daphne, this came in the form of a backpack infinitely easier to carry than Rin's sad little roll-behind piece of luggage. He'd knocked one of the wheels off during a field mission to Seoul and hadn't remembered to replace it before the trip. The other wheel barely rolled as it was, so Daphne stifled her laughter as he dragged the suitcase off the ferry, cursing down the whole gangway.

"Just pick it up," she said, turning around in time to see Rin get caught in the exit gate she'd just passed through.

"Sweet hell," he grumbled.

"Why did you pick that one?"

"I forgot it was broken," he replied. After a moment's disorganization, he struggled through the gate, but tripped over the luggage in the process. Daphne outright snorted, which earned her a glare. "And you know I can't carry a backpack."

He gestured with his head at Kurikara in its scabbard and cloth slung over his shoulder. Daphne shook her head.

"You could carry a backpack if you would just use your seal."

"I don't like it. It feels weird."

"It feels weird because you never use it."

Rin wasn't listening, fighting instead to get the long handle on the luggage pushed back down to the inside so he could carry it without those two long bars in the way, but the handle didn't seem to want to retract. Daphne was sympathetic of course. Seals _were_ uncomfortable. She should know, having four of them.

Fairly early on after the Morpheus incident, she and Rin had decided to create seals and get the accompanying tattoos in case they ever had to carry each other's blades in an emergency. It had been an easy add-on for Daphne, having carried Castor and Pollux and Helen of Troy in seals since she'd received them as a girl. But for Rin, the adjustment of going from zero seals to four had been a little too extreme. He'd thrown up during the ritual and been jittery for weeks afterward.

As if to prove a point, Kurikara slipped from Rin's shoulder and clattered against the luggage handle. Rin tried to shrug it back on, but ultimately the sword just got in his way.

"Here," Daphne said and put out her hand.

Hunched over the suitcase, Rin glanced up at her. "What?"

"Give me Kurikara. I'll carry it."

He opened his mouth to protest, but Daphne simply rolled her eyes and yanked the blade away. She pulled the loose collar of her shirt sideways and pressed the end of Kurikara to the geometric blue flame tattoo over her heart. The words to the incantation crossed her mind, but she still had to physically push to get the blade to go in. Seals were like piercings. Take the earring out too long and the hole will close up.

Rin watched, unconsciously rubbing the space over his own heart where his seal tattoo for Kurikara was—just simple black ink, his father Shiro's name in kanji. Across his back and shoulders were three elaborate, intertwined laurel wreaths for Daphne's blades. Those had been the ones that had made him puke.

"Thanks," he said.

She smiled. "Sure."

Even without Kurikara, Rin still had a tremendous amount of trouble with the suitcase handle. Just as Daphne started to laugh, she felt something strange that turned her blood to ice. She was being watched. The sensation made the hair on the back of her neck stand up and she actually turned around instinctively. No one was there. Just as suddenly as it had come over her, the feeling vanished—like a portal to Gehenna had opened and snapped shut. It left her feeling slightly unhinged.

"What's up?" Rin asked, hunched over his bag.

Daphne surveyed the ferry station, running a careful eye over every inch, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"I don't know," she replied.

Rin wound up carrying the suitcase with the bars still extended, struggling out of the station to the pick-up and drop-off point where a man was waiting with a van. He waved when he saw them.

"I began to worry you had missed the boat," he said, hurrying forward. His name was Chiba and he and his wife ran the ryokan where Rin and Daphne had spent their honeymoon and where they would be staying for the weekend. They greeted each other with the appropriate bows and Chiba took their luggage out of their hands. "I am happy to see you."

"Thank you," Daphne said, smiling at the look on Rin's face as Chiba loaded both the backpack and the suitcase into the van with professional ease. "We're happy to see you as well. Thank you for picking us up."

Chiba shook his head and shut the back of the van. "My pleasure, my pleasure. Did you want to come to the inn now or shall I just take your things?"

Daphne glanced at Rin and he shrugged, so she looked back at Chiba and replied, "I think we'll walk around for a bit. We'll come up before too long."

The innkeeper nodded and smiled, and kept nodding and smiling, bowing a little as he returned to the front of the car and climbed into the driver's seat. "Please call if you would like a ride."

Daphne smiled. "We will."

Chiba pulled away waving, and Daphne waved back until he was out of sight. Rin eyed her curiously.

"I thought you wanted to go straight there and have a bath."

"Yeah, well, that was before I felt a weird, very distinctively demon presence with its eyes on my back," she replied, and grabbed his hand. "C'mon."

* * *

Rin stumbled behind Daphne for a moment since she'd taken off like a shot, but got his feet under him as they reached the road and the first of the little waterfront shops and restaurants. In spite of himself, Rin really did love Miyajima. He'd gotten this bee in his bonnet that they had to have a destination wedding, and Daphne had flat out refused to get married at the top of Kyoto Tower, so Miyajima had ended up as a compromise location, but Rin still loved it. It was just so damn charming with its sleepy seaside atmosphere, the maple leaves on the manhole covers, the wild deer all over the place. He got caught up in watching the tourists take pictures of a group of deer as they passed and nearly forgot why they were hurrying in the first place.

"Wait, did you say distinctively demon?"

Daphne nodded. She had her military face on. She was hunting for something. Rin didn't know what, so he just let her pull him around like a dog on a leash.

"In the ferry terminal, while you were messing with your luggage, I felt something."

"What?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure. It was brief."

They kept hurrying, the street passing on their left, the water on their right. Distracted, Rin found himself staring out across the bay instead, admiring the dusty green-blue of the water under the cloud cover. It was so quiet here, even the traffic on the road more subdued. He smiled, thinking about the morning he'd woken up in Hiroshima two years ago, put on his wedding clothes, and come here to marry Daphne. He pulled her to a stop.

"What?"

She'd turned toward him to ask the question, so he took her face in his hands and kissed her. "Nothing," he replied. "I just love you a lot."

Her expression softened as she smiled. "I love you, too, Rin," she said and gave him a kiss of her own, though a split second later, she jolted away and looked into his eyes like she'd been electrocuted.

" _There!_ "

She flipped around, hunting again, but turning to face him again a second later as she said, "It's gone… Did you feel that?"

Rin shook his head. "No."

With a sigh, Daphne ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "It was so _strong_. I don't know what it is. You really didn't feel it?" She looked at him and her eyes were full of concern. It happened sometimes where Daphne's hallucinations would come back. She'd hear things or see things or smell things that weren't there, especially while she was under stress. Maybe it was a delayed reaction to work or one in anticipation of the favor they'd agreed to do for Mephisto. Smiling, Rin looped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in to kiss her forehead.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

She nodded. "I'll try."

Together they started walking again, this time at a more leisurely pace. They strolled in and out of shops along the waterfront, bought a couple of ice creams, arriving eventually at the stone torii gate and the lion-dog statues on either side of it that marked the entrance to the shrine grounds. Daphne found a bench by the water and sat down to finish her ice cream. Rin's was long gone.

An hour-ish had passed since they'd left the ferry terminal. Miyajima seemed to have worked its Miyajima magic on Daphne in the meantime. She'd relaxed, kicked back on the bench next to him with her legs extended and her ankles crossed. He was such a fool for her. He'd realized that a long time ago, but it hadn't changed anything. Leaning over, he kissed her cheek, then the space behind her ear, her neck. She laughed.

"Let me finish my ice cream," she said, biting into the cone.

"I'll help…"

He tried to go after the ice cream, but Daphne shoved her hand into his face and pushed him away.

"No you won't."

In the following battle for control of Daphne's arm and by extension her hand and the cone it was holding, she ended up shoving the whole bottom half into her mouth all at once and laughing as she chewed, which really just made her look like a mess. Rin started to laugh as well, which made Daphne laugh harder, and some of the stuff from her mouth fell out, but she caught it, and they just kept laughing—that is, until Rin was struck by a feeling he instantly recognized must have been the one that got Daphne all worked up.

It was cold and dark, whirling slowly, but quiet on the surface like deep water with the sensation of a thousand eyes like stakes sticking to every inch of your skin all at once. An electric shiver ran down Rin's spine. He looked at Daphne. She looked like how he felt.

Then it was gone.

"Okay, I _definitely_ felt it that time."

Daphne swallowed. "Any ideas?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

Rin shook his head. "I've never felt anything like it."

* * *

Spirit was learning.

When it came to beings as powerful as these, observing meant being observed in return.


	3. Chapter 3

Together, after pausing briefly to observe the shrine on the water and the gate as they passed them, Daphne and Rin headed up the mountain to the ryokan. Both of them had been quiet for a while after sensing that watchful presence. Daphne was thinking on it. She didn't know where Rin's mind was, but she suspected it was the same.

"Demon, definitely," he said out of nowhere.

Daphne came to a stop. Overhead, the rain finally started to fall from the clouds, pattering lightly down on the leaves of the trees all around them. The mountain was heavily wooded, the ryokan located about halfway up its side in the park. Daphne held Rin's eye, but only a moment more in the rain and he was tugging her forward to keep moving.

"Do you think it might have something to do with whatever Mephisto wanted us to check out?" she asked.

Rin shook his head. "I don't know. It could."

"It seems pretty likely," Daphne replied. "That they're connected, at least."

"We don't even know what Mephisto wanted in the first place."

The rain picked up, so they increased their pace, arriving a few minutes later at the ryokan in a full deluge. Chiba had evidently seen them coming, because he opened the door and welcomed them inside just as they stepped onto the porch.

"Quickly, quickly," he laughed. "You're just in time."

He stepped back inside and slipped expertly out of his shoes and into his house slippers. Rin and Daphne did the same when he gestured to the pairs set out for them.

"Your luggage is in your room. We will serve you dinner at seven o'clock," he said as they stepped in fully. "Do you remember where the private bath is, or shall I show you?"

"Just down the hall and to the left, yes?" Daphne asked.

Chiba nodded. "Yes, yes. Come this way, you are in the same room."

He led them down the hall into the inn, to the room they'd had during their honeymoon. The door was open, their luggage in the corner, and Daphne slipped out of her house shoes as she reached the threshold and stepped onto the mats. Rin followed suit and Chiba showed them that the key was in the lock should they decide to go back out.

It was exactly like Daphne remembered. The center of the room was set with a low wooden table, surrounded by cushions with cups and a kettle for tea on its top. At the far end, the sliding paper doors were open onto the engawa that overlooked a small pond and wooded garden. The windows were shut against the rain, but the gentle sound of it on the roof and the leaves was still audible. It was perfect. But it wasn't enough to settle the unease now rooted in Daphne's mind.

Rin slid both doors to the room shut, then stepped over to Daphne and put his hands on her shoulders. "You all right?"

"I don't know," she replied, leaning against him. "I can't stop thinking about that presence."

"Me either."

They went quiet, looking out the windows at the pond, at the blurred shapes and colors of the koi as the rain made ripples on the surface.

"I'm gonna take a bath," Daphne said. "Clear my head maybe."

Rin nodded and she moved away to collect the yukata the inn provided, then headed out the door and down the hall to the private bath. The air on the other side of the door was thick with steam. She shut and locked it behind her, shedding her clothing in too much of a rush to relax. She had only to dip one hurried toe into the water to remember how bloody hot it was, however, and immediately snap that toe back out.

"God _damn_ it," she hissed.

Taking a deep breath, letting it out, and taking in another, Daphne stepped slowly into the water, careful not to make too much disturbance. She held still until the water no longer felt quite so hot, then eased in deeper, held still, deeper, still. Several minutes later, she was in the bath up to her shoulders, floating, her body in an almost trance-like state as it seemed to become one with the water.

It was in that state that the presence returned.

Daphne sensed it, but she was careful not to respond. Part of the reason it had disappeared so quickly before might have been her reaction to it, her panic and instant-defense mode. Instead, she kept her eyes closed, kept her breathing level. This time it hung around.

She could feel it observing her. Trying not to push back too much on that observance, Daphne returned the favor, probing, trying to piece out what it was. It was demonic, that was certain. She was intimately familiar with the feeling of Gehenna on so many different levels it was almost ridiculous.

The energy was dark, rumbling and powerful, but restrained or perhaps untapped. It felt…curious, almost innocent, but that innocence was not enough to outweigh the bloodlust Daphne could sense lurking just beneath the surface. She focused harder. It was kin of Azazel.

The instant that name came to mind, the presence departed. Daphne hunted after it, trying to locate the direction of its retreat but it didn't feel as though it had run away at all. It was more like a door had closed and then both it and the frame had disappeared altogether. Daphne got out of the bath.

She found Rin lounging on the engawa with his feet kicked up on a small table, his hands tucked behind his head and all the windows open to the outside. The man was a goddamn furnace, so now the whole room was cold. Shivering, Daphne walked over and slid one set of the windows shut.

Rin sat up. "I always forget how cute you look in a yukata."

"That demon came back."

"What? In the _bath?_ "

Daphne nodded. "It's kin of Azazel. And it's powerful. Even if it doesn't have anything to do with the Hiroshima field office reports, it's probably good to have it on our radar." Unconsciously, she cinched the belt of her yukata tighter around her waist.

Rin stood and took her hands. "Can't catch a break, can we?"

Laughing a short and bitter laugh, Daphne shook her head. "Have we ever expected to?"

They smiled at each other for a moment—an ex-Army captain and the half-demon son of Satan. There wasn't a universe in which two individuals in their situation would ever have been given a break. Rin kissed Daphne's forehead and let go of her hands to collect his own yukata and head to the bath himself.

"I'll keep my feelers out for it," he said, poking his head back through the door. Then, "Maybe we should write all this down?"

Daphne nodded. "I'll start a log."

"You're the best."

She laughed. "I try—oh." Daphne suddenly remembered she was carrying Kurikara. Hurrying across the room, she summoned the sword from its seal and handed it to Rin. "Just in case."

"Just in case," he replied with a nod and departed.

Outside, the rain eased as Daphne grabbed a notebook and sat down on the engawa. She pulled up the table Rin had had his feet on, shivering even with half the windows closed, and went to work. She drafted a list of the times she'd felt the presence, made notes of what it had felt like at each occurrence. Eventually Rin came back from his bath and added his own thoughts to the mix. Daphne wrote them down.

"I didn't notice anything in there," he said. "I wonder if it's more interested in you."

She looked up at him, her eyes flat. "Don't say that."

He laughed, leaning over the back of the chair to kiss her. "Well, I mean, _I'm_ more interested in you, so…"

A knock sounded on the door and Chiba said on the other side, "Dinner is ready, if you would like to come now," so Daphne got up and followed Rin out. They ate quietly in another room at the inn, and it was quite possibly the biggest meal Daphne had had in years. Rin somehow managed to clean all of his dishes regardless. When they returned to their room, the tea table had been moved to the side and bed rolls were laid out. The rain had stopped. It was just beginning to get dark.

"Kind of a funny juxtaposition, huh?" Rin said, going to the windows to shut them.

"What is?"

"We're here for our anniversary, but it feels more like a field mission." He chuckled, sliding the glass panes into place and locking the latches.

Daphne sighed. He wasn't wrong, but she didn't want to dwell on it. They still had the whole weekend ahead of them, and the work week would begin right after that, same as it always did. They would deal with the demon then, on Monday, when they were supposed to. Right now, she wanted to relax.

Stepping back toward the door, Daphne switched off the lights. The room filled instead with the reflection of the moonlight off the wet leaves in the garden. In front of the windows, Rin looked back at her, his blue eyes bright in the new darkness, and smiled. She reached her hand out to him, and they met in the center of the room, wrapping their arms around each other.

"Thank you," Daphne said with a kiss. "For everything."

Rin held her face in his hands, studying a moment while he stroked her cheek, then he kissed her—long and deep and slow.

"Thank _you_ ," he said softly, pulling back.

Daphne didn't let him stay that way for long, lifting her arms around his neck to press close. She kissed him, and he kissed her back, and all she could do was smile as their lips met again and again. His hands drifted to her waist, untied the belt. They shifted back to her shoulders to slide them free of the fabric while her own hands undid the knot at his hips.

"I love you, Rin," she whispered.

"And I love you," he whispered back.


	4. Chapter 4

Rin woke up to the sound of birds in the garden. The sun looked kind of green coming in through the windows, and they'd forgotten to close the paper doors to keep it out. He and Daphne had pushed their bed rolls together to sleep, but of course he'd wound up in the crack between them in the middle of the night. Daphne's eyes opened as he gingerly sat up to stretch.

"What time is it?" she asked. Her voice sounded rusty with sleep.

Pulling a sore arm across his chest, Rin shook his head. "No clue."

Daphne reached up a hand and traced her fingers absently over the laurel wreath tattoos on his shoulders, then let them drift down his spine, then the length of his tail. He glanced at her and she smiled. Rin brushed her hair away from her face.

"You wanna hike Misen today?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said and lay back down, snuggling close to Daphne. She draped an arm across his and gave him a couple of kisses. " _Hike_ hike, or take the ropeway?"

"Hike hike."

"Me too."

They didn't get up, though. Instead they stayed how they were and closed their eyes, dozing sort of. Rin didn't know how much time had passed, but the sun got brighter and the birds got louder, so he sat up and woke Daphne again and hunted around for his phone until he found it.

"Seven thirteen," he said, ignoring the texts from Mephisto and Yukio and Shura.

Breakfast was at seven thirty, so they got dressed and went to the little dining room to eat, then grabbed their shoes and water and headed out the door to climb the mountain. Outside, the air was extra clear from the rain the night before, and the ground was still a little wet. Daphne passed him a water bottle and they started toward the trail.

"It smells amazing out here," Daphne said.

"Right?"

The woods and the sea were a welcome change to the general city-stink of Academy Town. He and Daphne were quiet as they climbed, eventually leaving the park behind in favor of the trail. As they wound through the trees, Rin let his mind empty completely. A thought struck him several minutes later.

"I left Kurikara," he said.

Ahead of him on the course, Daphne paused to look back. "Hm?"

"Kurikara. It's back at the ryokan."

"Did you want to use it as a walking stick?"

Rin caught up to her as she chuckled. He shook his head, coming to a stop. "No, I just… I feel like I might need it."

A concerned look crossed Daphne's face, so he shook his head harder, sorry he'd mentioned it at all and disturbed her good mood.

"Never mind, never mind," he said, and pushed her forward on the trail. "Forget I said anything."

It took them an hour to reach the summit, and by the time they got there, Rin had worked off most of his worry about Kurikara. The sword would be fine. Chiba wasn't going to let anything happen to it. And if one thing was certain, Rin didn't need it for hiking.

They lingered for a while at the summit, enjoying the view—Rin enjoying Daphne enjoying the view more than anything. He liked the light in her eyes as she looked out at the sea and the islands. It reminded him a little of how she used to look when she was glowing, surrounded by a rainbow halo from her head to her toes.

"Let's go," she said, and Rin jumped at the loud sound of her voice in the silence.

Apparently he hadn't worked off as much of that worry as he'd thought.

On the way back down, they took a different course, wandering through the shrines and temples that dotted the side of the mountain, hidden in the woods. The isolation didn't help to shake Rin's unease. Neither did the look of the old buildings. They found themselves in front of Kannando and Monjudo Halls, which were creepy as all get-out, just faded wood alone on the trail. Rin shouldn't have found them creepy—he knew this. They were sacred structures, meant to be places of peace. Something had disturbed that peace.

"Look, you're supposed to ask for safe childbirth at this one," Daphne laughed, pointing at the hall on the left and stepping up to it. "What do you think, Rin? Should I go for it?"

She was teasing, but he wasn't listening, focused instead on the forest, following the disturbance, or trying to at least. Behind him, Daphne had approached the structure and was halfway through a Shinto prayer when Rin saw something move in the bushes a little ways down the mountain face.

"Daph!" he shouted, and reached back to grab her and pull her away from the hall.

She stumbled, laughing, and said, "Great, now you've cursed me," as she regained her footing and looked at him. Any trace of humor vanished from her face when she saw his. "What?"

"There's something out there. Off the trail."

He pointed to where he'd seen the movement. Daphne looked. Rin did, too. They looked for a long moment until their eyes turned to each other and they nodded. Quickly both of them climbed over the wooden fence that separated the trail from the outlook and moved carefully down the steep incline. They only had to go a short ways before Rin saw movement again.

"This way."

He set off at a brisk pace, as fast as he could go moving down a mountain covered in rocks and trees without a trail. Daphne stayed close behind.

"Demon?" she whispered.

Rin shook his head. "I can't tell. Something's not right."

All of a sudden the ground disappeared in front of him in a drop-off. Rin barely managed to stop himself before he stepped over. Daphne crashed into him from behind.

" _Christ_. A little warning, next time, please."

Below them was a trail.

Rin knew instinctively that it wasn't on any of the maps. It looked new, barely worn down, or maybe really old but covered up. As he peered over the drop-off to get a better look, a tanuki scampered across the path into the bushes. Daphne whacked his arm.

"You made me come all the way down here for a goddamn _raccoon?_ "

"Daph, _look_."

He sat down, eased himself over the side of the drop-off and jumped to the bottom. A couple of steps put him on the trail. It ran left and right off into the woods.

"Is that a path?"

Intrigued now, Daphne climbed down. She studied the ground, even bending to touch a hand to the dirt. Eventually, she stood.

"Which way?"

Rin could sense something—something that had brought him down here that wasn't a tanuki. That feeling of being off-kilter had grown stronger since they'd come through this part of the mountain. He nodded to their left.

"Here."

They hurried along the path. Going was easier now that there was a trail, faint as it was. The trees were thick, and though the sun must have been nearing its peak in the sky, shadows dominated the mountain face. A light shone up ahead, a light like a clearing. Instinctively, Rin slowed.

Daphne followed suit, both of them taking near-silent steps. That tilt to reality grew stronger, made Rin more aware of his heartbeat in his chest, then they reached the break in the trees and Rin saw someone.

Jolting, he made a signal at Daphne and each of them ducked to either side of the trail to hide. He took deep breaths, trying to listen, but hearing nothing. A few seconds passed and he leaned to look out at the clearing again and again he caught a glimpse of someone or something definitely shaped like a human. He ducked back.

Daphne pointed at the clearing, raising her eyebrows. Rin nodded. She nodded back, then reached behind her head to draw Castor and Pollux from their seals. On the count of three.

One.

Two.

Three.

He and Daphne burst into the clearing, Daphne whirling her blades down from her shoulders and tossing Pollux his way. Rin caught the blade and brought it up to bear, but as it turned out, he didn't need to.

The something he'd seen _was_ human.

But it was also dead.

And it wasn't alone, either. The bodies of several other men in robes were scattered throughout the clearing. All of them had their throats torn out. The one he'd seen from the trail had been propped up against a rock, its head back and its eyes open.

"Oh my god."

"How many are there?" Rin asked, holding on to Pollux just in case.

Daphne shook her head and split from him to check the opposite side of the clearing. Rin could count five from where he was standing.

"Two more over here," Daphne called.

Rin moved a little further toward the forest line. "I've got another one, no—two." He could just barely make the second body out—lying in the tall grass. He might not have been able to see it, except the ends of the blades leading up to it were stained with blood.

Daphne approached from behind. "Nine here, then. Could be more."

"You think?"

She shrugged. "Want to go tromping through the forest to look for them? Or is nine enough for you?"

"You say that like it's my fault."

"It _is_ your fault," she replied, scoffing. "You're the one who chased a raccoon down the mountain."

"No, you don't get it, Daph, this is bad."

"You think I don't understand that finding the bodies of nine people who were obviously _murdered_ is _bad?_ "

"No—the shrine—the island—the whole island is sacred. Nobody is supposed to die here. It pollutes the purity."

That seemed to click. Daphne fell back, her face turning serious. Her eyes drifted from body to body, surveying each one of the seven that was visible. She looked them over so coldly. Rin had come to expect that from her, but he had never gotten used to it. She'd seen too many brutal deaths. They no longer affected her.

"We need to get more exorcists out here," she said. "Now."

* * *

Thus ended any remaining anniversary plans. Daphne stayed with the bodies while Rin tromped his way back into cellphone service to call Mephisto and let him know what they'd found. The rest of the weekend turned into a madhouse of forensic exorcists and local police and monks from the shrine, everybody walking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth from town to the site of the murder, constantly calling on Rin and Daphne to give advice or look at some data or help with a purity spell.

The whole thing was impossible to keep out of the news, so Daphne and Rin also turned into spokespeople and media liaisons, and by Sunday night, Daphne was ready to tear a few throats out herself.

Rin came into their room at the ryokan, holding a bunch of papers in his hands, looking them over and saying, "These are the final autopsy reports. You should—"

She gave him a look to freeze hell and he shut right up.

"Sorry," he said.

She turned her attention back out the windows, onto the garden and the koi pond she no longer found relaxing. Two years with Rin officially come and gone. She'd married a demon. She didn't know what she'd expected.

"Thursday night," she said, propping her head up on her fist, "in the bath, when I felt that presence, it disappeared. It didn't retreat. It _vanished_. Entirely. Have you felt it since?"

Rin came onto the engawa and sat in the chair next to hers. "No. At least, not like it was."

She nodded. The whole balance of the island had been upset. Perhaps that was what they had been tapping into since they'd set foot there. She was certain the deaths were related somehow, she just didn't know which had come first.

"They were able to identify the bodies," Rin said, raising the papers a little to remind her of them.

"And?"

"Exorcists."

" _What?_ "

Daphne couldn't help sitting up in her seat. Rin passed over the documents.

"Every last one," he said. "And guess what?"

She looked up from thumbing through the reports. "What?"

"They're all from the Hiroshima field office."


	5. Chapter 5

Many more people had come to her mountain since those first two, but none as near as powerful. Spirit had kept a watchful eye on them, ignoring the others, the weak ones, kept her olfactory core trained instead to the strong ones' scent, which was easy now that she had the nose of a canine.

That night, when she had crept close to observe the light one as the being had floated in a steaming pool, she had not realized she had been sensed. She _had_ learned, learned at those first few encounters that they could feel her like she could feel them, so she had tried to go discretely, but it had not been enough. The light one had investigated her, and Spirit might not have known except for a powerful thought had emanated from the being. A thought about Azazel.

Out of fearful instinct, Spirit had retreated, and out of fearful instinct had done the first thing come to mind: she had stolen the body of the nearest demon.

The creature was a harmless one, in the form of a small and fur-covered animal. It could do little aside from provide a place to hide, but she made use of it all the same, steering it hither and thither, following her powerful pinpoints up on the mountain.

She had not intended to draw them to the bodies of the men who had summoned her. The demon she had stolen had been frightened of the dark one, and some of its fear had infected Spirit and caused her to run, but she did not see that it had done any harm to have had the bodies found. It had given her more beings to study. More things to learn.

Spirit did not know how she knew, but she _knew_ she had already learned the most important thing that night with the light one in the bath. The demon Spirit had stolen—she felt it still, its consciousness, writhing within her, but that was what she had learned.

She was a demon who could possess demons.


	6. Chapter 6

Daphne was about to straight-up murder somebody, Rin could tell. They'd made their way to the Hiroshima field office on Honshu Monday morning and had already dealt with a failed engine on the ferry, train delays during rush hour, and the hotel Mephisto had arranged for them losing their reservation. So when the receptionist at the field office politely refused to let them in, Daphne's face turned the color of uncooked beef.

"Excuse me?" she growled, her teeth clenched.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't just let in anyone who asks," the receptionist replied. Shakily, he raised a hand to adjust his glasses as he swallowed. "Security."

"I am not _asking_ to be let in," Daphne replied, swinging her backpack down and digging around in the front pocket until she found her ID badge and slapped it on the counter. "I am _ordering_ you."

Hesitant, the receptionist picked up Daphne's badge and opened it. She didn't pull rank often, but when she did, she _really_ did. After Morpheus, Daphne had reentered the Knights of the True Cross and subsequently earned herself all sorts of titles and clearance. She was technically a member of both the Japan and United States branches as a Senior Exorcist First Class, but the Army had issued her status as an honorary major, so the Japan Branch had matched it with some kind of complicated honorary sub-Knight deal Rin didn't entirely understand. Mephisto had laughed for days though when he'd found out that Daphne now outranked Rin by a longshot.

The receptionist's face went pale. He sputtered for a moment, then said, "Just one second, ma'am—erm, sir—uh, Major. Wait here, please." The poor kid dashed down the hall to his left. Daphne let out a frustrated breath.

Rin reached a hand over to massage her shoulder. "We'll get in," he said.

Daphne shook her head and leaned over the counter to stretch. "We don't even know what we're looking for here."

"No, but this way we'll get to talk to somebody in the brass, I bet," he laughed, imagining the conversation the receptionist was probably having with the higher-ups right then.

"We should have brought our uniforms."

"Hey, stop it." He reached after Daphne again, this time pulling her to his side. "We're doing just fine."

She gave him a flat look. "We found the bodies of nine murdered Hiroshima field office agents on our anniversary trip and all we know is that Mephisto didn't like some paperwork. That sound 'just fine' to you?"

Rin opened his mouth, but he didn't get to respond, since the receptionist came back with an important-looking woman in a uniform. She smiled at each of them in turn, folding her hands behind her back. The receptionist looked at Rin.

"If I could see your ID badge as well, sir…?"

"There's no need," the fancy woman said. "This is Rin Okumura."

If the receptionist had gone pale at Daphne, he went double pale at Rin. Everybody in the Order knew Rin's name, it was kind of common knowledge what with him being the son of Satan and all, but not everybody knew what he looked like. The kid's mouth fell open as the woman gestured down the hallway.

"Please, come in. We can speak in my office."

"Thank you," Daphne grumbled. She grabbed her ID off the counter and followed as the lady started down the hallway. Rin glanced at the receptionist to give him a sympathetic smile, but it was completely lost on the guy. Just as Rin started to chuckle, a slight sensation tickled the back of his mind.

Whatever he had felt on Miyajima, he could feel it here, too.

* * *

"Have a seat."

Daphne took a place in one of the chairs in front of the desk in the office as the woman had indicated. It was several seconds before Rin even entered the room, a strange expression on his face that he exchanged with Daphne before sitting beside her. The woman folded her hands together and laid them across her desk. A name plate that said Hatsue Akiyama was displayed on the front.

"What can I do for you?" she asked. "It isn't very often we get visitors from the Tokyo offices demanding entry."

Daphne removed the folder containing the autopsy reports from her backpack and set it on the desk in front of Akiyama. "The bodies of nine of your exorcists were discovered on Mount Misen late Friday morning."

Akiyama had started to open the file to look, but the news caught her off-guard, so she started and stared at Daphne instead. "Why am I just hearing about this now?"

"Mr. Okumura and I were the ones who found them," Daphne replied. "The Tokyo offices claimed jurisdiction."

She would never tell this woman the real reason—that exorcists from every other regional office had been brought out because Mephisto had given them reason to suspect the Hiroshima office was compromised. Daphne had no way to know yet how high or how deep that compromise extended. Akiyama's surprise at the news, however, seemed genuine.

"My god…" she whispered, glancing through the files. "You found them?"

Rin nodded. "In a clearing on the mountain's north face. The investigation is still ongoing, but your cooperation would be appreciated." He smiled that gentle smile similar to Yukio's sad one. It was an expression that almost always assured whoever was on the receiving end would do what he wanted them to.

"Yes, of course. Of course. This is terrible…"

"If you could please notify their families," Daphne added.

Akiyama kept nodding. "Yes. Yes, I will do that."

"Thank you. We'll put you in touch with someone from the investigation team to give you a full briefing. In the meantime, would you allow Mr. Okumura and me to take a look at your file room?"

"Yes, right this way," Akiyama whispered.

Absently, the woman stood up. Her eyes were still flicking over the information in the files. Daphne was sympathetic. She knew what it felt like to lose people under your command.

Akiyama took Rin and Daphne deeper into the Hiroshima office, showed them to a room with an endless labyrinth of drawers and shelves with boxes and folders. There was a table in the corner. The lights flickered like they were connected to a faulty generator. Before she left she gave them a brief description of what was filed where, then shut the door behind her.

"What do you think?" Rin asked.

"She's definitely upset about the news," Daphne replied, going to the shelves where the exorcism reports were supposed to be and taking a box down. "Her emotion is genuine enough."

"So we can trust her?"  
Daphne hauled the box up onto the table. "I didn't say that."

Rin nodded. He was quiet for a moment while Daphne lifted the lid off the box and started looking through the files inside, then said, "That negative demonic energy is here, too. It's faint, but I felt it."

"The same one from Miyajima?"

"Yeah. But different somehow."

"Keep an eye out for it," Daphne said. "In the meantime, help me with these boxes…"

They spent several hours combing through the files, finding nothing. Akiyama returned every so often to check on them, and eventually started sending the nervous receptionist in her place. That was how Rin got them sandwiches and drinks and a fan to keep the room cool. The guy was too nervous to say no. Five o'clock rolled around and they hadn't made much progress, but looking at report after report had helped Daphne to form a pattern of them in her mind, so when she opened a file and glanced over it, and found it didn't fit, she knew it instantly.

The receptionist knocked on the door. "Um, Mr. Okumura? Major Okumura? We're all ready to lock up out here…"

"Thank you," Rin called. "We're on our way."

Daphne stood, her eyes fixed on the file. Another second's survey and she found the abnormality. The DAMAGES section—like the others Mephisto had sent their way—contained only a single word:

None.


	7. Chapter 7

"It's just weird that it's weird, you know?" Rin said, biting the tempura shrimp from his udon bowl in half and talking while he chewed. "I mean, it's pretty much universal business to business that not having any damages is a _good_ thing."

"Yes, but when has an exorcism ever caused _zero_ damages?"

Rin shook his head. "Never. Not in my experience. That's why it stood out to me in the first place."

Daphne sat back against the restaurant booth and crossed her arms. She hadn't touched her food, but she needed to eat. Rin had long ago learned the warning signs of a tired, hungry Daphne, but he had also learned that suggesting she have a snack or take a nap resulted in his getting snapped at, so he made a big show of his udon bowl to subconsciously inspire her. So far it wasn't working.

"We need to look through every file," she said. "We have to find all of the reports that list no damages."

"You think they're all related?"

"No, but I'm certain _some_ of them are." She propped her elbows on the table and put her face in her hands and sighed. "I want to go home."

Rin sat up. "We'll be there Thursday," he said, trying to sound encouraging.

Daphne let her hands fall from her face and looked out over the restaurant instead of at him. Her eyes looked watery, maybe with tears. Rin leaned across the table and took her hand.

"I'm sorry the weekend didn't go as planned," he said.

She glanced at him. "Me too."

Back at the hotel, the staff had upgraded them to a suite as an apology for losing the reservation. Daphne grumbled something under her breath about the statistical likelihood of Mephisto's having not even booked anything in the first place, but Rin was the only one who heard her. The room was pretty damn nice, with a great view of the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Daphne ditched her backpack and went straight onto the balcony. Propping his broken suitcase up next to the door, Rin did the same.

A breeze had picked up off the water, and it still smelled salty even though they were a good distance away. The air was warm. Daphne stood and stared blankly at all the city lights.

"Daph?"

"…Hm?"

"What's on your mind?"

She drew in a meditative breath. "My life…" she said. "It's such a whirlwind. Some days I'm okay with that. Some days I'm not."

Rin nodded. He could guess what kind of day today was.

"Sometimes, I just—I wonder how much of this I chose for myself. And how much of it was chosen for me. By circumstance or consequence." She leaned against the balcony railing, slowly rubbing her hands together. After a second, she looked at Rin and a sad smile crossed her mouth. "You might be the only good choice I've ever made."

Stepping close, Rin wrapped his arms around her from behind and she straightened so he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Does this ever feel like a mistake to you?" she asked.

"Being married?"

Daphne nodded.

Rin was quiet for a moment. "Sometimes, yeah," he said. "If I'm honest. But not very often. And I can say without a doubt my life would be a living hell without you."

His mind flicked back to an image of Daphne he couldn't seem to get rid of: the one of her lying in the mud in the Academy courtyard, blood coming out of her ears, covered in so many bruises. He'd thought a lot about what he would have done if she had died that night. He never made it very far. The idea scared him too much.

"Do _you_ ever think it was a mistake?" he asked.

Daphne smiled. "I like to lie to myself and say that I wouldn't have demons in my life if things were different, if I hadn't married you, but… I know that I'm wrong." She looked back at him. "And when I think of facing them alone, I can't fathom it."

Rin held her tighter. "That's how you know, I guess."

"Mm."

They were quiet after that. Rin cast the same blank gaze over the city that Daphne did, each of them absently touching kisses to the other's face or neck or hands. Eventually they made their way inside, to bed, and as Rin held Daphne in his arms he thought for a moment that maybe he felt that presence as it had been that first time, but the sensation was brief, and his attention turned to other things.


	8. Chapter 8

The pair spent most of the rest of their time in Hiroshima holed up in the file room at the field office, combing through every drawer and box and folder. Members of the team working the investigation on Miyajima stopped in to report every now and then, offering a welcome break from the monotony of file hunting. Akiyama gave her full cooperation. All in all, it was an uneventful three days. Except for that looming darkness that seemed to hover around every corner.

Thursday had come and gone, and neither Daphne nor Rin had been able to put a pin in what it was. Every time Daphne searched for it, it wasn't there. Every time she felt it and looked in its direction, it disappeared. Daphne's only consolation was that Rin could feel it too.

"I hope it'll go all right," Rin said as they stood on the Shinkansen platform. "Now that we're leaving."

"It was never really our investigation, Rin," Daphne said. "Not officially." The unauthorized photocopies she'd made of the suspicious reports were burning a hole in her backpack that very moment. She wanted to get on the train and pass the stupid things off to Mephisto as quickly as possible. "We said we'd look into it. We looked into it."

"Yeah, and we found a bottomless pit."

Daphne swallowed. He was right.

She couldn't get her eyes to shut at all on the Shinkansen. She nearly drove herself crazy counting the stops on the local train until the one for their neighborhood. She didn't wait for Rin as he struggled with his luggage on the platform. She didn't even wait for him to get his front door key out of his pocket when he had trouble with _that_. She broke the doorknob off instead.

" _Jesus_ , Daph."

"I want to be _home_ ," was all she said.

Rin squawked something about robbers and security and a bunch of other nonsense Daphne didn't listen to. It would have been idiotic for anyone to break into their house—regardless of a missing doorknob. She went upstairs, dropped her backpack in the hall, and headed for the bathroom, cranking the shower all the way to hottest setting. She plugged the tub, sat on the edge, and watched every inch as the water filled it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rin asked, coughing on the steam when he came into the bathroom.

"Whatever is going on in Hiroshima has to do with this presence, Rin," she replied. "We can't ignore it anymore."

"I'm not ignoring it. What are you doing with the tub?"

"Recreating the hot bath at the ryokan. Do you feel like the presence ever left us?"

He was quiet. The shower sounded loudly on the water in the tub. Then Rin said, "No. No, it never did."

"I'm going to draw it out."

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't…"

"I'm not going to sit here and do _nothing_."

"Daph. Stop it."

Rin reached over and shut the water off. He nearly reached after the plug to drain the tub as well, but Daphne grabbed his hands before he could. They regarded each other for a moment through the steam.

"You're exhausted," Rin said, sitting next to her. "You've been working nonstop for a _week_. You decided to fill up the tub with the _shower_ for Christ's sake. Please don't do this now." Daphne looked away. He kept talking. "If you draw it out, what then? You're gonna fight it? We don't know anything about it. Neither of us is in a good state to face a demon as powerful as we think that one might be. Don't be stupid."

She glared at him, but he held his ground.

"I. Can't. Do. Nothing," she repeated.

"I'm not asking you to do nothing. I'm asking you to wait."

He didn't really give her any choice. Pulling Daphne to her feet, Rin led her to the bedroom. As soon as she saw their bed, her energy drained as she realized just how tired she was. After that, she didn't need more convincing. Quiet, she got ready for bed and climbed in—the familiar sight of that wedding picture of her and Rin on Miyajima striking one last note of sadness on her heart before she drifted off.

* * *

Rin didn't go to sleep. He needed to talk to somebody, and he didn't want to leave Daphne alone, but he couldn't talk on the phone in bed, so he sat up, texting Yukio.

 _We're home. Safe and sound-ish—_ he sent.

It only took a few seconds. Yukio was always good for a late-night chat.

 _Ish?_

 _Hiroshima was bad. Miyajima was worse._

 _Any major injuries?_

 _No, but_

Rin stopped typing. But Daphne was acting a whole hell of a lot like she had when he'd first met her. He didn't know what he expected Yukio to do about it. It wasn't like Yukio had done anything the first time. Rin wasn't even sure what _he'd_ done. Thinking about it, he hadn't done anything either. Daphne had come to terms with things herself. What scared Rin was that things might not actually have been fully resolved. He'd seen hints of it before, but nothing on the scale of breaking the handle off the front door had happened in a long time.

Regardless, it was between Rin and Daphne. He didn't need to drag in Yukio.

Rin backspaced the "but".

 _No. I'm not sure how much Mephisto wants this stuff talked about, but I'll ask him tomorrow and fill you in if I can_ he sent.

 _Sounds good. Glad you're both all right._

 _Me too. Night._

 _Night._

Sighing, Rin set his phone on the bedside table. In the darkness, he glanced down at Daphne, already asleep. Part of him wanted to wake her up, ask her if she really was okay or what was going through her head, but he didn't. What she needed was sleep. He'd ask her tomorrow.

Rin settled down under the covers. He shut his eyes for a moment, but even in his own bed that uneasiness still hovered around him. Rolling over, he snuggled close to Daphne and put an arm over her. She stirred, waking for a moment to take hold of his hand. It was strange almost how much safer that made him feel—like if hadn't moved closer to her, something bad might have happened.

It was another ten minutes before he could get his eyes to close. And ten minutes still before he fell asleep.

* * *

Spirit had not anticipated just how large Assiah could be. There were so many more beings, so many more demons, so many more places than she imagined. She had only had to leave her island to find out.

She did not know why she had decided to follow the dark one and the light one when they had departed, but she had. She felt bound to them somehow—not physically, perhaps, but emotionally, spiritually. Somehow she understood that they were beings similar to herself, and she knew for fact that they were searching her out just as diligently as she was searching them. The idea that that could stop just as suddenly as it had started was so abhorrent to her, she had actually destroyed the small, fur-covered body of the demon she had stolen in her outburst. She had not meant to do that.

Finding another body had been easy: a swarm of tiny, black demons with large green eyes had been floating near a decaying log at the time. She took one of them. It did not struggle or scream like the other had.

She steered it after her beings. She stayed with them. She observed their every movement, followed their every footstep all the way to a place that smelled so very much like them it nearly overwhelmed her olfactory core. She understood instinctively that this was their home.

Spirit made her way inside, and it was difficult. Barriers had been erected, but she had chosen her body well and a small, low-level demon such as she was disguised as eventually slipped through the cracks. She found her beings upstairs, asleep. They spent so much of their time doing that.

Spirit shed her skin, but kept the tiny demon close at hand, ready to slip back inside if needed. She settled her vaporous body along the headboard, watching as her nearness seemed to stir expressions across the faces of her beings. It was then that she noticed the photograph on the small table next to the bed. An image of her beings on her island.

Spirit smiled.

Similar to herself indeed.


	9. Chapter 9

"Here's your damn files," Daphne said, entering Mephisto's office without knocking and unceremoniously dropping the folder of photocopies she'd made onto his desk.

"And a 'thank god it's Friday' to you, too, Miss Lux."

Daphne replied with a flat stare and Mephisto grinned, laughing a moment later. He waggled a finger at her. "Weekends away are supposed to result in refreshed, relaxed employees."

"Weekends away don't usually entail a murder investigation."

Mephisto's smile turned dark. "Depends on the weekend." The expression disappeared in the next instant and he sat up happily to inspect the folder. "What have you brought me? Maple leaf cookies? A Miyajima happy spoon?"

"They're files from the Hiroshima field office," Daphne replied.

"Oh."

"Files that very closely match the ones you gave us to investigate."

" _Oh_."

Now quite pleased with his gift, Mephisto opened the folder. He glanced over the first report with eager eyes, processing the information quickly, and moving on to the next.

"I know it's pointless to ask, but could you tell me what you've got up your sleeve?" Daphne said, watching with mild agitation as Mephisto wordlessly looked over another report.

"Nothing up my sleeve, Miss Lux," he answered absently.

Daphne sighed. She'd known better. While she sat and watched him process the files, she wondered what it must have been like to have had a mind like Mephisto's. He wasn't always playing a game, but it was difficult to tell when he was. Occasionally, situations popped up that needed looking after, and as preceptor of the Japan Branch, it was his job to send someone to go looking. It was possible that this had been one of those situations.

"And what of our dead exorcists?" he asked eventually, setting the last report down.

"Any recent developments will have to come from the field team," Daphne said. "When I left, their bodies had been identified, and it was determined they'd been killed by a demon."

"That's all?"

"The monks were very focused on restoring the purity of the _entire island_ , so the investigation got a little stunted." She gave Mephisto a pointed expression. "And I've been locked in an office all week digging out those files for _you_."

Mephisto patted the folder. "They're lovely, but hardly exciting."

"Would you have preferred the corpse of a Hiroshima exorcist?"

He laughed. "You know me so well."

Daphne wished she didn't.

"Is that all you have to report on the situation, then, Miss Lux?" Mephisto continued, raising his eyebrows. "Nine dead exorcists and a handful of paperwork? We don't file official reports on _favors,_ you see, so any information you have on the matter is best shared verbally." A glinting, sharp-toothed smile followed.

"There's something else on that island," Daphne said after a moment. "I'm not certain what. A demon. Kin of Azazel. Rin and I felt its presence several times. It's intelligent, and powerful."

"See, now _that_ is exciting."

"I've felt traces of it since we left, both in Hiroshima and here in Academy Town. Nothing quite as strong as the first few points of contact, but it's definitely the same energy."

"Might I ask you to keep a detailed log of your encounters with this…demon?"

Daphne produced her notebook from her bag. "Already done."

Mephisto clapped his hands together. "Ah, Miss Lux, you are a _marvel_. I shudder to think what this branch might be without you."

In spite of all her best efforts, Daphne had still wound up another trophy on Mephisto's shelf. Alongside her husband. And her husband's brother, and every other curio or oddity of an exorcist who happened to cross paths with the demon king. In the end, it had been inevitable, though Daphne was still learning to accept it.

"I'll continue to track my encounters, and I'll talk to Rin about doing the same. Everything I have to say about the demon is in here." She set the notebook on his desk. "May I go now?"

"Of course, of course." Smiling, Mephisto drew the notebook towards himself. Daphne got up and was halfway out the door when he called her back with a chiming, "Miss Lux?"

Daphne turned around.

"TGIF."

* * *

Daphne'd found substitute teachers for her English and exorcism classes, but Rin had completely forgotten to get his cram school sessions covered, and Shura, who had had to pick up the slack in his absence, was none-too-happy to see him in his return. The second he walked in the door to their office, she pounced on him, forcing him into a headlock he was too surprised to fend off.

" _Jesus!_ Shura! Ow, let go!"

"Do you _have_ a brain in here or is it all just hot air?" she asked, knocking on Rin's skull. He swiped at her, but she tightened the headlock. "You owe me _big time,_ demon boy."

"Uncle, uncle," Rin choked as Shura's arm tightened around his neck. She let go, but pointed a finger into his face.

" _Big time._ "

It was probably best not to bring up all the classes and shifts of _hers_ Rin had had to cover during her "mysterious disappearances" to various cities. Instead, he offered up a stunted, "I know," while he rubbed his throat.

Satisfied for the moment, Shura flopped down in her desk chair and propped her feet up. "How was your trip?"

"Terrible," Rin replied.

Shura raised an eyebrow, but he just shook his head. He'd texted Mephisto that morning to ask if he could tell anyone about what had happened in Hiroshima over the weekend, and had received a series of skull and sparkles emojis in reply, which was admittedly vague, but he figured it probably meant he should keep his mouth shut. Mephisto had even gone to the care of removing all traces of the story about the murders from the internet. Now everything was hush-hush. Shura, thankfully, seemed to understand.

"Bad luck," she said, clicking her tongue.

Rin opened his mouth to reply, but their pagers buzzed simultaneously, calling them out on an exorcism.

"Lower Ring, Seventh Precinct on yours?" Shura asked, getting out her phone to send a quick reply that she'd gotten the message.

"Yeah…"

"I'll tell them you're coming, too."

* * *

Somehow, Daphne found herself in the rarely-used girl's locker room on the top floor of the gym building. It was empty. It was empty most of the time, but particularly so with the approach of the weekend. There weren't any gym classes on Fridays. Nobody used this locker room even when there were.

She didn't remember doing it, but she'd filled the massive in-ground tub. Hot, rolling steam rose from the surface of the water. It must have taken a long time to fill, and the air in the room was thick with that same steam. Tubs like this were just another luxury of being a student at True Cross Academy. Daphne shed her coat and shoes.

Like she'd told Rin, she couldn't do nothing.

* * *

Shura gave one flat glance to the demons in question, then immediately laid into the exorcists already on-site like she'd laid into Rin when he'd walked into the office.

"You brought us out here for a bunch of goddamn _goblins? GOBLINS?_ " She smacked the lead exorcist upside the head. "What in the mother-loving-hell is _wrong_ with you?!"

"We're sorry, Miss Kirigakure, we didn't mean to bother you, but we did ask that two Senior First Class exorcists be sent down immediately. We didn't know they'd send us you." Trembling, the guy added an apologetic bow to the end of his sentence.

Rin glanced at the group of them—three men, all with insignia for Intermediate Second Class exorcists, all of them shaking in their boots at the Senior First Class exorcists that _had_ been sent down immediately. Shura wasn't having any of it.

"What _for?_ Did you piss your pants and forget how to exorcise _goblins_ for Christ's sake? They're _goblins._ "

"We know, Miss Kirigakure, and again, we're sorry, but please, _look_ at them."

Shura did. Rin followed suit. The group of goblins was holed up in the back loading bay and dumpster area for a meat processing plant. There were ten or twelve of them, but it was hard to count with them constantly moving around and crawling all over each other. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, then Rin noticed the goblins were crawling over each other in a pattern on repeat, a counter-clockwise swirling, the same demons going under or over each other as they snarled. Goblins didn't do that. He glanced at Shura. She shook her head.

"All right," she said. "I'll grant that's pretty weird."

* * *

Daphne didn't remember leaving Mephisto's office. She didn't remember getting into the tub, either. It was scalding hot, but she could no longer feel the heat, her body floating weightlessly in the water. She shut her eyes.

What few thoughts had been in her mind drifted away, leaving a dark and silent stillness. Daphne focused on her breath, on the warmth of the water as it exchanged with the water in her cells, an uneven osmosis. Gradually, she lost track of her body entirely.

It was in that state of nothingness that she felt that now-familiar presence return. She wanted so badly to put a name to it, but she couldn't. Not until she knew more about it. So she left her mind open, left it blank, let the energy creep around the edges—exploring, like an animal at the edge of a lake finding the best place to drink.

She wasn't prepared for its attack. She wasn't prepared when something shoved her under the surface.

* * *

Squatting side by side, Rin and Shura got low to the ground to get a better look at the demons. Rin picked one, kept his eye on it, watching it weave around and around, always placing its feet and hands in the exact same places. He picked a different one. Same thing.

"How long do you think they've been doing this?"

"When did the initial call come in?" Shura asked, rising and turning to face the intermediate exorcists.

"The plant's morning manager called around nine. We were dispatched and arrived around nine fifteen. The goblins were already doing this when we got here."

"Did the morning manager find them or did they manifest when he got here?"

One of the exorcists shook her head. "No, he found them. The plant's closed at night and security doesn't check this area regularly. So they could have been here since yesterday evening."

Shura nodded, considering. Rin continued watching the demons. There was something kind of artful in the way they were crawling. The pattern didn't seem random. Nor did the demons seem to be enjoying themselves. The way they snarled… Why keep doing something so specific if you didn't want to do it?

"I'm gonna get a look from above," Rin said. He scouted out a high wall dividing the dumpsters from the loading bay and leapt to the top of it. Shura moved instinctively closer, ready to cover Rin if needed, but the step forward put her in proximity to the demons as well, and they picked up speed at her nearness, snarling even more.

"Woah."

"Stay where you are for now," Rin said. He balanced across the wall until he was standing right above the goblins. As he'd suspected, they were crawling in a perfectly symmetrical pattern—one in the shape of a five pointed star.

"The _hell?_ "

The goblins picked up speed again. Their snarls became outright screeches. They moved faster and faster, maintaining that star shape, wailing loud as all get-out, until the pattern blurred with their speed and individuals were indistinguishable. Then, out of nowhere, and with a rising shriek, the whole of them exploded, spraying bits of goblin in every direction.

* * *

Daphne's eyes snapped open, and the water seared them, now covering her face and blurring her vision. She gasped, sucking water into her throat and lungs that burned just as badly. Her thrashing only made the water seem hotter, but she couldn't stop herself. It was a knee-jerk survival reaction.

Inhaling the hot water made her cough, and coughing made her gasp, and after a matter of seconds, she didn't have any air left in her. Pressure built in her head. She struggled against the distinctive sensation of someone _holding_ her under the water, but for all her efforts, it kept her down. She continued to kick, splashing wildly. Pressure. Pain. Her lungs screamed. _She_ screamed, but it hardly made any bubbles.

Unable to resurface, her limited vision going dark around the edges, Daphne reached behind her head and summoned Helen of Troy from its seal. The bonded blade connected with her skin and she slashed her arm through the water, recklessly aiming at something she could only imagine being there. A deafening, shrill shriek tore into her ears, and Daphne felt the force release her.

She shot out of the tub, gasping and hacking up water as she struggled to get her arms over the edge to haul herself out. She splashed onto the wet, tiled floor and collapsed, coughing still. She couldn't stop coughing, couldn't stop gasping, and found herself throwing up a moment later. Her arms shaking, her entire body trembling, she just laid there on the floor, soaked and shivering.

Daphne did not get up.

* * *

Gingerly, Rin hopped off the wall to examine the spread of scattered goblin bits. They'd _exploded_. He'd watched it happen with his own eyes, but it wasn't something he'd seen before. The goblins had exploded, yeah, but they'd exploded from the _inside_ —like they themselves had been the bombs.

Shura nudged a dismembered arm with her foot, turning it over. Her boots were spattered with blood. "I don't know," she said. "What do you think?"

Rin shook his head. "Beats me." He glanced back at the intermediate exorcists to ask their opinions, but given the looks of bewildered horror on their faces he decided it wasn't worth the effort. "Do you think they self-destructed?"

"Maybe." Shura nudged a leg next, then a section of a side. "These look kind of…shredded."

Rin had to agree. The various pieces of goblin were strewn in strips. "We should get another team down here." He and Shura were great for killing stuff, but not so hot when it came to forensics. And the goblins hadn't even _needed_ killing.

"I'll send out a call."

Sniffing, Shura walked casually away from the pieces of exploded goblin. Rin couldn't quite get his legs to move. There had been something familiar in the way those demons had moved. Something about the way they'd been swirling, but he didn't know what. The forensic team would be better suited to analysis.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rin saw Shura approach him and her body language was all weird and reserved.

"Yukio's the one on dispatch," he said. "He answered my call."

"What? So he's not gonna send a team down?"

Shura shook her head. "They're on their way, but, Rin…nobody's seen Daphne for an hour."


	10. Chapter 10

Rarely did Rin's blood run chill, but when it did, he felt it in every atom. Being so hot all the time made the shift seem even more extreme, and the cold dread that flooded his body at Shura's words was too visceral a reaction to ignore. He actually shivered.

"She should be in class," he said. "She teaches English poetry first hour."

Shura shook her head. "She didn't show."

The chill got worse. " _Shit._ "

"Do you want—"

He ignored Shura, pulling out his phone and calling Daphne immediately. The line rang, and rang. Rin tapped his foot, willing her to pick up, chewing the inside of his bottom lip. When the line connected, it was her voicemail, so Rin hung up and called her again. Shura carefully walked up to him.

"Yukio didn't sound worried about it, he just wanted me to pass on the info…" She raised an eyebrow at the impatient way Rin started to pace tiny circles. "He was annoyed more than anything—stop it, would you?" She grabbed Rin's shoulder and pulled him to a halt. " _What_ is going on?"

Daphne's recorded message sounded for a second time on the other end of the line. Rin hung up. "I need to go find her, Shura. Are you all right here?"

Shura's eyes went flat. "Let's not forget who trained you, huh?"

"Call me if the forensic team says anything," he said, already walking away. Shura called something after him, but he didn't hear. Once he was clear of the fence around the lot, he broke into a run. He had to get to True Cross as quickly as possible.

As he ran, he dug through his pockets for his keys, keeping an eye on all the passing buildings to find a decent door. Maybe he was overreacting. Shura had said Yukio was annoyed, not worried. He'd probably only mentioned Daphne's absence in a passing complaint. It had been a while since class had started. Maybe she'd been late and nobody had checked her classroom since then. That would explain why she wasn't answering her phone.

There was a front office at the building lot just up ahead. Rin made a beeline for it.

No. No, something was wrong. He could feel it. But even that might have just been a leftover reaction to their weekend on Miyajima.

He slammed into the door, shoved his key into the lock, turned the handle and opened it, slipping through into the cram school and hoping there hadn't been anyone in the office to hear him crashing against the door like a bird against a window. The cram school hallways were empty, and he made his way through without interruption. He got out his phone and called Daphne again.

"Pick up, _pick up_ ," he growled, heading toward her classroom.

"…You have reached—"

He hung up. Dialed again. There was a substitute at the front of her class that he could see through the window. So where was Daphne?

"Hi."

Rin practically collapsed at the sound of her voice over the phone, and he _did_ trip, managing to catch his balance at least and keep moving forward.

"Daph! _Thank god_. Where are you? What's going on?"

"Sorry, my phone was on silent," she replied. "I'm in the girl's locker room on the top floor of the gym building."

The response was so incongruous, Rin actually stopped dead in his tracks. "What? Why?"

"Are you free? Can you come up here?"  
"Are you all right?"

Her voice sounded strange, distant. Maybe a little bit shaken. She was quiet for a second and Rin could hear her breathing, sharp and ragged breaths like she'd been exercising or something. He could also hear what sounded like running water. Then she said, "I'm fine. Will you come up here, please?"

"I'm on my way…"

He was about to ask her to stay on the line, but she hung up, so he picked up the pace, running all the way to the gym building and up the stairs to the top floor. The layout was identical to some of the lower levels, and girl's locker room was next to the boy's, thankfully, otherwise he wouldn't have known where to look. Rin pushed open the door and a tremendous waft of steam burst out. He coughed, shielding his face. The inside of the locker room was like a super wet greenhouse-sauna. Daphne was sitting in the middle of it, soaked, in front of one of the in-ground tubs. Every single shower in the room was on.

Daphne turned around when he came in. "That was fast."

" _Daph._ " His mouth fell open and he stumbled forward, nearly tripping over a lip and into another tub that was full of water. "What— _what the hell?_ "

"Come over here," she said, so he made his way across the slippery tile. The floor was wet, places where the tiles weren't perfectly flat pooled with water. Now that the door out was closed, the room started to fill with steam again. "Look," Daphne said when he'd reached her, pointing at the tub.

Rin followed her finger, but he didn't know what he was supposed to be looking at. The tub was draining, the water swirling toward the plug like—

" _Holy shit._ "

His reaction surprised Daphne, like she hadn't expected him to find it interesting yet. She stood up, grabbed his hand, and dragged him over to the line of showers. Again, she pointed, and again Rin looked, and the water was swirling into the drains in the showers in the same counterclockwise pattern as the water in the tub. The same counterclockwise pattern the goblins had been moving in before they'd exploded. One in the shape of a five-pointed star.

"Daph, Shura and I got called down to a manifestation of some goblins that were acting weird," he said, his eyes glued to the drains. "They were moving like this—they—they were making this same pattern."

" _What?_ "

"I swear to god."

They looked at each other, equally astonished. Daphne was a wreck—her hair damp and unable to dry in the humid air aside from the single strands that frizzed up, her clothes sopping and somewhat transparent where the fabric was light. She didn't have shoes on. Her coat and bag were in a puddle next to one of the tubs.

"What were you _doing_ up here?" Rin asked.

She shook her head. "I don't know. Trying to draw out that demon, I think." Rin's heart stopped, but Daphne kept talking like she hadn't just said something crazy. "I just sort of found myself here, and I guess I filled up one of the tubs and got in. I made contact with it. It tried to kill me, I think. It held me under the water, but I made it out. When I went to drain the tub, the water flowed like this, so I filled it again and I've been checking every drain since."

"Hold on… Did you say it tried to _kill_ you?"

Looking up at him, Daphne nodded. He went pale. She said, "Well, it might not have been trying to _kill_ me, but it did push me under the water."

"Daphne!"

"I made it out."

"That's not the _point!_ You could have _died_. You can't do stuff like this by yourself."

"You wouldn't let me do it at home."

"You were sleep-deprived!"

She hadn't slept well at the ryokan or at their hotel in Hiroshima after they'd found the bodies of the exorcists. He knew it for a fact. Rin was a notorious heavy sleeper, but even the slightest sound from Daphne would wake him up. She'd been restless, awake, or having a nightmare every night for the past week. Falling silent, Daphne turned her face toward the tile.

"You're right," she said, shaking her head. "I shouldn't have done it… It was like—I don't know—like I was in a trance. I couldn't stop myself."

Rin reached out and took hold of her arm. "I'm glad you're all right." She looked at him and shivered in spite of the humid heat. "You said you made contact?"

Daphne nodded. "I'm certain it's a new demon," she said. "It seems cautious. Curious, maybe. It sort of…sniffed around a bit before it attacked. I don't think it really knows what it's doing."

"And after it left, the water started draining like this?"

"It could have drained like this before, but that seems unlikely."

"And it's definitely the same demon from Miyajima?"

Again, Daphne nodded, but it was grimmer somehow. "Definitely."

They were quiet for a moment. The sounds of the water from the showers hitting the tile and going down the drains filled the silence. Behind them, the tub finished draining and echoed with the last of the water going down the pipe. Rin didn't know what to make of it.

"We should talk to Mephisto," he said.

Daphne nodded. "I want to look at those reports again." She splashed through the puddles to retrieve her bag and coat. "I have a feeling somehow that this is all connected."


	11. Chapter 11

Neither Rin nor Daphne could get a word in edgewise over Mephisto's hysterical laughter. They'd come into his office and Daphne had opened her mouth, probably to ask to see the files she'd given him, but he took one look at her haphazard appearance and just cracked up. His face was down on his desk now, little giggles rising up, his shoulders shaking. Daphne's face was red, but she wasn't embarrassed. She had that look in her eyes like she wanted to cut something's head off.

Eventually Mephisto sat up. "I thought we'd sorted out the flashfloods on campus after we banished that water demon," he said, wiping away a tear.

"It wasn't a flashflood," Daphne growled. "I was drawing out the demon from Miyajima and it tried to drown me. Do you still have those reports in here? We'd like to look at them."

Mephisto glanced at Rin, an eyebrow raised. "Yes, they're just here," he said, reaching into a drawer in his desk and pulling out the folder Daphne had given him. "It tried to drown you, did you say?"

Daphne didn't reply. Instead, she snatched the files out of his hand and walked away with them to a low table and a grouping of chairs on the other side of the room. Mephisto leaned forward and started to whisper, "I am under the _distinct_ impression that your wife doesn't much care for me, Mr. Okumura." Rin might have responded, but Mephisto was already settling back in his chair and chuckling. "We missed you at this morning's debriefing."

"I was on call," Rin replied. Technically, he was _still_ on call, but his status at command would show as being out in the field with Shura, so he wouldn't have to worry about it until she got back.

"Do you have anything to add to Miss Lux's report?"

"She gave you her notebook and told you about the demon?" Rin replied. He'd stopped trying to correct Mephisto on the whole "Miss Lux" thing a year and a half ago.

"She did."

"Then no."

The notebook was detailed. He'd added his own encounters to Daphne's and something about the series of events made him reluctant to constantly rehash information. In fact, he wanted to straight up forget the whole thing had ever happened, but that wasn't an option. Whatever the demon was, it had followed them. After Daphne's experience in the locker room, that fact was undeniable.

"Oh, but the water's going down the drains in the shape of a five-pointed star in the girl's locker room where the demon tried to drown Daphne," he added.

"Rin…"

Daphne's voice brought him to attention. He crossed the room quickly to the couch where she was seated. She'd spread as many of the copies she'd made and the original reports Mephisto had given them across the coffee table as would fit, and dug a damp receipt out of her bag to make notes.

"The exorcists listed on these reports…" She paused, putting the end of her pen to her mouth. "I didn't study them before—we were so focused on combing through every file in that office, but look." She tapped a few of the pages. "Names of our dead exorcists appear here…here...here, and here." She picked out several more as she noticed them. By then, Mephisto had moved behind the couch to observe as well. "Most of them are senior members of staff, and the field office is small..."

"So it makes sense for their names to appear so often," Rin said with a nod. "I follow."

"But, _none_ of their names are listed on the new reports—the ones you brought to us, Lord Pheles." Daphne slid the reports in question down from the top of the table. "Nine senior members of staff and not _one_ of them went on these calls."

"Huh."

"We send junior members with each other all the time, but we have the personnel for it," Daphne said, sitting back. She looked up at Rin and Mephisto. "I find it hard to believe that, in an office like Hiroshima, none of those exorcists would have attended these calls."

It was possible there were other patterns as well that he and Daphne simply hadn't noticed since they'd been so focused on the DAMAGES sections of the reports, and Rin was about to say so when his pager went off. He had barely even looked at the screen when his phone starting ringing as well. It was the command center number.

"Rin Okumura," he answered.

"Shura ratted you out," Yukio said on the other side. Rin gritted his teeth. Not even a hello from his own damn brother. "We need you on a manifestation in the market sector. Are you with Daphne?"

Rin glanced at his wife. "Yeah."

"Bring her with you if she's available," Yukio said. "We've got some mid- to high-level ghouls clustered around the fruit stalls, but they're behaving abnormally." Some papers shuffled audibly as Yukio checked his notes. "Moving counterclockwise—"

"In the shape of a five-pointed star?"

"How did you know that?"

Rin's heart stopped. He looked at Daphne and that was all she needed to pack up the files, swing her bag on over her shoulder and start out of the room.

"We're on our way, Yukio," Rin said, following after. "And we'll hurry."

* * *

Daphne was in a grand ghoul-slaughtering type of mood. Being nearly drowned by a malevolent spirit that had put you in a trance after apparently following you home would do that to a person. Well, maybe not your average person, but if there was anything Daphne was it was _not_ average. She was an exorcist, and a damn good one if you wanted her opinion, and she wanted to kill something. She wanted to kill something _right now._

Rin, unfortunately, was very good at reading her moods. Particularly the murderous ones.

"Hey, _hey!_ Slow _down_ , would you?" he said, catching her up and forcing her to check her pace with a hand on her shoulder. "We can't kill the ghouls. We have to observe them."

Rin Okumura. Talking about _observing_ a demon. Daphne laughed, but it was more of a snort. She did slow down, at least, letting Rin set the pace instead. He was right. If the ghouls really were moving in the way Rin had said Yukio said they were, they would need to take data. They couldn't kill them. Yet.

Daphne's clothes were mostly dry by then, but she shivered in the breeze that was augmented by her movement. She secured her hair back as they ran, tying it into a knot on the top of her head, but it had come undone by the time they reached the market sector. Several lower ranking exorcists had set up a perimeter, keeping back the evacuated and the gawkers, but they let Rin and Daphne through with nothing more than a couple of nods.

Deeper in, near the center of the weaving rows of market stalls where the produce sellers typically gathered, was a pack of ghouls, perhaps twenty strong, circling around each other and moaning, tracing their steps, inexplicably, in the outline of a star. Instinctively, Daphne identified their alpha—a slightly larger model near the center of the group—and drew Castor and Pollux from their seals. She fell into a defensive stance, tracking the demons. Sure enough, their movement pattern matched the one she'd seen in the water almost exactly.

* * *

Spirit surged with joy when she sensed them enter—her beings, her precious yin and yang. She had been afraid in those first few moments after fleeing from the light one in the water, after leading her to the water, that she would never see them again. That they would be too frightened of her—but here they were. She could see them with her ghoul's eyes.

Spirit was experimenting. She hadn't meant to hurt the light one, only to see if hers was a body Spirit could share, and she had earned a lot of pain for her efforts. The cold silver of that blade as it had sliced through her arms still stung in Spirit's memory, but she had learned, at least, that that was why the light one smelled so strongly of Gehenna. She kept little pieces of it embedded in her back.

The dark one, however. Spirit was uncertain about him. She had sensed him get near to the goblins she had left behind, still connected though she had shed their skins, but that was all. Nearness was not enough.

She was about to lead her ghoul out, take it to rejoin the others—she had possessed each of them until she'd found one whose shape she liked and had left the rest behind, heading out of the marketplace until she'd sensed her beings—but a great rift into Gehenna opened and a blue light sprang to life before her. Spirit blinked.

She knew those flames.

* * *

"I can feel it, Daph," Rin growled, his hand flexing over the handle of a freshly-drawn Kurikara. "It's here, somewhere."

" _The_ demon?"

He nodded. Daphne changed her stance to one a little more aggressive as she scanned the area. The exorcist leading the team on-site had been hurrying over to them, but the sudden flare of Rin's flames had startled him and he'd had to collect himself. He was approaching again, this time more cautiously.

"Can you increase the perimeter?" Daphne asked before the guy had even had a chance to say something. "We have reason to believe there might be a high-level anomaly in the area."

He swallowed. "Uh—um, yeah. Yes. Yes, we can do that."

"Great. Mr. Okumura and I will take the lead on the physical exorcism. You and your team should focus on containment and public safety." She added a smile to the end. He'd follow her orders. If you said anything with the right amount of authority, you could get almost anyone to do whatever you wanted. "Send back-up at your discretion."

The lead exorcist actually saluted before walking away, already giving orders through his earpiece to widen the perimeter. Daphne looked toward Rin. He was grinning at her.

"I love it when you do that," he said.

She laughed. "Focus."

The ghouls appeared to have increased their speed since Rin and Daphne had first arrived. The pair split from each other, circling the demons around either side until they met back up on the opposite end. It was odd that the ghouls weren't going after any of the humans in the area, or even showing _signs_ of doing so. They lumbered in one massive clump, treading on the wreckage of one of the mobile fruit stalls that they must have overturned when they'd manifested. She looked closely, but none of them appeared any different from an ordinary ghoul. So where was the demon Rin had sensed?

"Is the pattern the same as the one you saw with the goblins?" Daphne asked.

Rin nodded. "I think so. It would help if I could see it from above." He squinted over his head, looking around for some place to land.

"It's definitely the same as the water…"

Rin picked out a tall, permanent stall and hopped up onto the top. A moment's observation and he was nodding down at Daphne.

"Definitely the same."

"Do you see anything else up there?"

He would understand what she meant—if he could see the other demon or not. They had no real way to know how high-functioning it was, whether it could understand human speech, so it paid to be careful. Rin shook his head after a moment and leapt down.

"I know what I felt, Daph."

She nodded. "I believe you."

They had reached an impasse. The ghouls weren't doing anything destructive. Rin couldn't see any other demons in the area and it would have been swept by the exorcist team as the perimeter had been set up. Typically when one arrived on the scene of a demon manifestation there was all kinds of havoc to sort out, things to kill. This felt more like shooting fish in a barrel.

"How did you exorcise the goblins?" Daphne asked.

Rin shook his head. "We didn't. They exploded."

Daphne drew her eyebrows together, but her confusion didn't linger long on Rin's statement. Instead it shifted to the ghouls, which had increased their pace and their moaning, and another, singular, ghoul that had appeared walking toward them from behind a distant stall. Rin bristled and, in an instant, the ghouls broke their formation.

Demons rushed in every direction, snarling and extending their arms to attack whatever they came in contact with. For some, it was other ghouls. For others less fortunate, it was Rin or Daphne. Daphne cut off the heads of the two that had made it to her first, leaned in to parry the claws of a third who stepped in next, then slice it through the neck. She glanced over to Rin. Five exorcised ghouls lay on the ground at his feet, and he was cutting through the remaining crowd to get to the lone one. Ghouls _always_ traveled in packs, and this pack had been locked into a behavior only moments ago. But that one had acted on its own. Rin looked more like he wanted to kill it than find out why.

They didn't have time for either, really. The ghouls were quickly becoming unmanageable. Daphne hadn't expected them to break formation and so had been unprepared for the group to make a sudden move. They would have to kill the alpha if they wanted to keep the demons contained.

Daphne had located it before, so she located it again, making evasive maneuvers around the demons that attacked her on her way. The alpha was at the center, and she ran her blades through its heart before it could even raise an arm to acknowledge her. The rest of the ghouls dropped. Some distance away, Rin swore.

* * *

In an experience altogether new, Spirit was forced out of the body of her ghoul as it died. She was quick to leave, quick to disperse, quick to make herself scarce before the ire of those blue flames focused on her, but she could not help a thrill of excitement as she fled.

Spirit knew. She knew those flames. He was a demon.

She could possess _him_. But she would have to be stronger.

* * *

Daphne picked her way through the field of dead ghouls to where Rin was pacing circles around the one that had been by itself.

"It was here, Daph, it was here," he said as she approached. "I swear. That feeling—the feeling, it came from this ghoul." He pointed Kurikara at it. "I can't feel it anymore, but I swear to god."

His eyes were worried, confused, when he looked at her, so Daphne sheathed her swords in their seals and stepped over to take his arm. She didn't know what to say, though. They stood in silence and looked down at the dead ghoul until the team of exorcists arrived from the perimeter to assist the clean-up.


	12. Chapter 12

Mephisto didn't even look surprised when Daphne pushed into his office immediately following the exorcism. Rin would have knocked, but Daphne took every opportunity for subtle disrespect that she could. It was kind of hilarious, actually—the way the two of them acted like nobles tossing around some witty banter when really it came off like a couple of kids squabbling.

"We're taking these files," she said, going to the coffee table where they were all still spread out.

"You will leave them right where they are, Miss Lux."

The way those words rumbled actually stopped Daphne dead in her tracks, her arm reached toward the papers. Slowly, Mephisto rose behind his desk. The notebook of their encounters with the demon from Miyajima sat open in front of him, and he closed it before approaching the coffee table. He was smiling, but it didn't look very pleasant.

"You'll think twice before taking back a gift."

Daphne didn't say anything.

"The manifestation we just responded to…" Rin put in. "That demon was there."

"I know," Mephisto replied.

"And what else do you know?" Daphne spat.

Turning his gaze on her, Mephisto cocked his head. Daphne didn't back down, though she did check some of the irritation in her eyes. A moment of silence, then something in his smile shifted.

"I know that the dates on the reports you have provided only go back as far as Miss Akiyama has been stationed at the Hiroshima field office."

Daphne started. "The director?"

"Mm, but she hasn't always been director. I shipped her out to the Hiroshima field office about twelve years ago—after a violation of code." He winked. "It's taken a long, long time to work her way back into good graces. I only made her director last year."

"You think she has something to do with the reports?" Rin asked.

"On the contrary, Mr. Okumura. I am sure of it."

Daphne stepped toward him. "In what way?"

Chuckling, Mephisto threw up his shoulders and hands in a dramatic shrug. " _That_ I'm not so certain about." He walked away, satisfied apparently that Daphne would leave his precious papers alone, and kept talking, making his next announcement like it was casual. "I've arranged for the two of your to return to Hiroshima and… _collaborate_ with Miss Akiyama. Your train leaves tonight."

Rin's mouth fell open. Daphne practically toppled over. " _What?_ "

"This is a ruse, naturally. What I really want is for you to investigate the matter further."

"What you 'really want,' huh?" Daphne scoffed. "I'm so glad—for once—that we know what you ' _really want_.'" She made a pair of exaggerated air quotes for the last two words.

"Miss Lux—"

"What time is the train?" Rin asked.

Both Daphne and Mephisto regarded him in surprise. He just smiled, ignoring Daphne and looking to Mephisto, waiting for an answer.

"Eight o'clock."

"We'll be on it."

He grabbed Daphne's hand and led her out of the room. Thankfully she was still surprised and didn't really protest until he'd gotten her into the hallway. She pulled her hand free and planted her feet.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"There's no point in arguing, Daph," he replied, still walking. "Mephisto would have forced us to go no matter what we said. We might as well just cooperate with him."

"Do I need to remind you what—"

"Akiyama's exorcists died on the same island where we first met that demon," he said as he turned around and regarded her from down the hall. "That's not an accident." Sighing, Rin shook his head. "It's like you said…we have to do something."

"The demon is _here_ now, Rin. In Academy Town."

"And it followed us from Miyajima. There's no reason it won't follow again."

Daphne looked at the ground. Her hair was all puffy from air-drying in the humidity. Places on her clothes were stained with ghoul blood. Faint dark circles shadowed her eyes. She flexed her hands open and closed into fists, wiggling her fingers like she was warming them up. The demon had almost killed her that morning. Had she been less skilled as an exorcist, Rin might have found her body in that tub in the girl's top-floor locker room. But she _was_ skilled. She _was_ strong.

Returning down the hall, Rin took Daphne into his arms and kissed her deeply. She let him, relaxing but not kissing him back.

"It'll be okay, Daph," he said softly.

She sighed. "I'm tired, Rin. I can't do another week in Hiroshima."

Rin smiled. "Then we'll have to crack the case in record time."

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hullo! Sorry it's short. And late. Last week kicked my butt. I'm going to try to stay on top of regular updates, but that might not be possible. Wish me luck!_


	13. Chapter 13

Akiyama's receptionist was not happy to see them.

Some of that probably had to do with the way Daphne glared at him—the dark circles under her eyes made worse by a night in a cheap motel as Mephisto had arranged a train ticket, but not a place to sleep. The rest of it was most likely his memory of the couple of days he'd spent running errands for Rin when they'd been here at the beginning of the week. He didn't look too keen to be the sandwich guy again.

"Mr. Okumura…Major Okumura…" Stunned, he rose slowly to his feet. "Um, is there something I can do for you? You're back so soon…" They'd only been gone a day. It felt like a month, considering what had happened.

"Is Director Akiyama in?" Daphne asked. "We've been sent to 'collaborate.'"

"I'll check. The Director doesn't usually come in on Saturdays…"

He started out of the room, and his pace turned into an all-out bolt when he saw the look in Daphne's eyes. The second the receptionist was gone, she turned that look on Rin. Her teeth were bared.

"I _swear to god_ , if she's not here—" Daphne interrupted herself with a growl, wringing her hands in a violent motion. She stalked over to the seats in the reception area and threw herself into one. "I _hate_ Mephisto, that pompous ass…"

She was still grumbling when the receptionist returned, his face pulled into a grimace. Akiyama wasn't in. The kid made eye contact with Rin; Rin made a quick phone call gesture with his hand. The receptionist nodded and flew to his desk to pick up the phone and dial. "She'll be in at noon," he scrambled to say. "Is there anything I can get you in the meantime?"

"No, that's all right. We'll be back at noon," Rin replied and herded a belligerent Daphne out of the office before she could protest.

* * *

Daphne's eyelids felt like heavy sandpaper every time she blinked. This was not how a person was supposed to live. She and Rin ran themselves ragged as it was on their _ordinary_ schedules, never mind the hell they were put through under extenuating circumstances. They'd gone to Miyajima, discovered a murder, attracted a demon, investigated the Hiroshima field office, brought the demon back home, nearly been drowned by it, fought some ghouls, and then been shipped back to Hiroshima to dig around in the dirt some more all in a little over a week. By noon, Daphne was too tired to even be angry about it. She went quietly with Rin to the director's office and let him take the lead.

"…was surprised to get the call that you'd returned," Akiyama was saying as Daphne tuned back in. The three of them were seated around her desk. "Do you have new information on the investigation?"

"No, but we've been sent back to collaborate with you on that," Rin said. "Some of our superiors thought we left the case too early."

Akiyama shifted. Her mouth twitched. "Well, that's a relief," she said, but Daphne had never heard a person sound so insincere in all her life.

"What was the nature of the infraction that earned you a post in a distant and unimportant field office?" she asked.

Both Akiyama and Rin blinked at her, astonished. Daphne didn't care. She didn't even care enough to sit up straight. She looked dully across the desk at Akiyama, slumped down in the chair with her chin nearly resting on her chest. Akiyama stammered for a moment as she looked for an answer.

"I…I'm a Tamer," she said. "A Doctor and a Dragoon as well, but a Tamer primarily." Her expression turned stony. "I was involved in a series of research experiments in the field that failed. As the head of the team, I shouldered the blame. Is that sufficient?"

"What kind of research were you engaged in?"

"We were looking into how the bond between a demon and an exorcist is manifest."

"And your findings?"

"Inconclusive."

"Huh."

Sitting up, Daphne drew Helen of Troy from the back of her neck. She held the blade up for Akiyama to see and the woman's eyes flicked from the shining metal to Daphne's face in undisguised discomfort. Daphne opened her fingers to display Helen of Troy stuck to her flat palm perpendicular to the floor. Akiyama's mouth fell slightly open.

"Perhaps you'd like to study me?"

Akiyama swallowed. "We…ah… We researched Tamer links to their familiars," she said, and her voice trembled. "Not demon swords."

"And what did you hope to achieve?"

"A means of artificially creating that bond," Akiyama whispered.

Daphne slipped Helen of Troy back into the seal on her neck and relaxed in her chair. She regarded Akiyama for a moment. The woman turned her gaze down at her desk. A director in any field office, even one this far south, shouldn't have been so easy to intimidate. It was a wonder she'd been able to recover a tenable position at all. Daphne folded her arms.

"You were unsuccessful, I take it?"

"What does any of this have to do with the investigation at hand?" Akiyama asked, having apparently been pushed too far.

"Any information on personnel currently employed by this office could be of value to the case," Daphne replied.

"Well, why don't you go read the research reports, then?" Akiyama snapped. "All the information you could ever want about my failure is more than available."

Her cheeks had flushed and she sucked a sharp breath in through her nose. She let it out slowly while Daphne gave her a smug smile. After a moment of silence, Rin chimed in.

"Director Akiyama, we're sorry for the loss you've experienced, and we're sorry for the intrusion of the Tokyo office, but please understand that we want to solve this case just as badly as you do. Is there _anything_ you'd like to tell us?" He smiled at her, but she looked away.

"No."

Rin looked at Daphne. "Major Okumura and I will be on call if you need us. In the meantime, I think we'll get to work."

Akiyama said nothing in reply. Hesitant, Rin stood and Daphne followed suit and they left her office together.

"I think you could have been a little more subtle," Rin whispered.

"Got the job done, didn't I?" Daphne replied.


	14. Chapter 14

It took a ridiculously specific set of search terms and filters to bring Akiyama's research up on the Knights of the True Cross's online database, but Rin managed to find an article.

"Sweet hell, _finally_."

Daphne looked up from the reading she was doing on the other side of the table. Nobody had gotten around to deconstructing the little makeshift office they'd set up for themselves in the file room, so they'd decided to occupy it again. Better to be close if something happened, though at this point _what_ that would be was beyond even guessing. Daphne had been reviewing reports from the exorcists who had been assigned to take over the murder investigation.

"Did you find them?"

"One of them," Rin replied. Daphne got up to come look over his shoulder. "It's super old. Published twelve years ago."

"That tracks with her reassignment out here."

Rin clicked on the link. A PDF of the document opened on his computer screen, the title DEMON-HUMAN CONNECTIONS: CREATING ARTIFICIAL TAMERS in bold font across the top of the first page. Rin scanned over the abstract.

"Jesus…"

The experiments had used a bunch of different methods to try binding the familiars of established Tamers to new exorcists. Even the brief details in the abstract were unsettling—using fatal verses to bring the demons to the brink of death before reattaching the bond, fusing demons together to attempt to summon them simultaneously, creating seals and storing demons within them. Apparently most of the methods had resulted in a good portion of the familiars dying permanently, unable to be re-summoned by their Tamers. The results of the study overall were inconclusive.

"It's brutal, but it doesn't seem like enough to get her kicked out to the Hiroshima office," Daphne said, straightening after reading the abstract as well. "Whatever her next experiment was, she must have pushed too far and screwed up. Mephisto undoubtedly scrubbed the record, whatever it was."

Rin nodded. They'd be hard-pressed to get information out of him. At least fifty percent of the satisfaction he got out of playing puppet master came from watching his players scramble around in the dark. It didn't matter how helpful the knowledge he possessed might have been, he kept his lips sealed. He could have told them plenty of times what it was Akiyama had done, but he hadn't, which meant he wouldn't, and they were on their own.

"I should read the rest of this," Rin said, though the thought of it made his skin crawl. "Just so we're not fuzzy on any of the details."

"I'm nearly finished with these reports," Daphne replied.

"Anything new?"

"No, but the team working the investigation now has been putting together more detailed profiles of the exorcists who were murdered." She reached over and spread nine folders out on the desk. "That's all I have left."

Daphne flopped into her chair and pulled the nearest file up to the edge of the desk. She opened it, glancing lazily over the information. Rin hunkered down to read some seriously disturbed experimentation shit, but halfway through the second paragraph of the introduction, Daphne sat up. Her hand snapped out and snatched up the next closest file, which she read rapidly, then the next. After glancing at the next one, she sorted all nine into three piles of three and looked up at Rin.

"Tamers, scientists, Arias," she said, touching each of the piles in turn.

" _What?_ "

"Of the nine exorcists killed on that mountain, three were Tamers, three were Arias, and three were scientists—researchers. In fields adjacent to Akiyama's."

"No way." Rin sat up and pulled the pile Daphne had said was for scientist toward him. He flipped open the folder on top and sure enough, the guy was a field researcher specializing in the discovery of new fatal verses. The next one had her hands elbow-deep in studying the evocations Tamers used to summon familiars. The third focused on searching out new kinds of demons. "What are the chances of that?"

"Slim," Daphne replied. "Field offices this small don't typically have a budget to house research in the first place."

"Do you think she continued her experiments after getting moved out here?"

"If she did, it would have been secret. That article was the only one you could pull up under her name, right?"

"Yeah," Rin said, but plunked out another search right then just to be certain. "She probably had a hard time getting anything published if Mephisto scrubbed her record." He typed in the name of one of the other scientists—the dead ones. The engine pulled up a few hits, new articles published recently, but none in the guy's field of expertise. "Huh." He tried the other two and got the same result. "That's weird."

"We should check out their lab," Daphne suggested.

"I don't think they'd be dumb enough to leave the body of a decomposing demon familiar just lying around, Daph."

She rolled her eyes. "They were dumb enough to get themselves killed."

"Valid."

"Regardless, we need to investigate. Tomorrow, probably, while most everyone is out of the office."

"Don't you want to rest?"

"No, I want to go _home_. I hate this city. It gives me the creeps."

She glanced away, as if out a window, but they were in a file room in the center of an office building. The thought hadn't ever occurred to Rin before that Daphne might have found Hiroshima uncomfortable. To him, it was just the train stop they had to get off at to get to Miyajima. But it was more than that. It was a city that had been destroyed by the country Daphne came from, and not only that, but the military she had served in.

"Crazy how much the world can change in such a short amount of time," Rin said.

Daphne raised an eyebrow at him.

"World War II was, what? Like seventy years ago? That's not that long. And now I'm married to an American." He smiled, and she shook her head but smiled back.

"Crazy," she said.

"Let's investigate the lab tomorrow, then," he added. "I'm sure our receptionist friend will be more than happy to let us in."

"To the office, maybe," Daphne replied. "We should probably break into the lab." She shrugged. "Secrecy and all."

Rin grinned. "Oh, definitely."


	15. Chapter 15

Bright and early that Sunday morning, Rin and Daphne met a sleepy receptionist outside the doors into the Hiroshima field office. He was wearing a suit, but his hair was uncombed, and he looked like he'd been scared out of bed by some kind of natural disaster. Daphne didn't give the poor kid a passing glance after he unlocked the door, she just went right inside, grumbling about how a place could be so slow with demon manifestations that it didn't need full-time round-the-clock staff. Rin thanked him, though, and followed his wife.

The office itself was dark. Only the emergency lights lit the halls and rows of cubicles. None of the managerial staff came in on Sundays, and the team of exorcists on call for manifestations worked on a different level of the office building. Rin and Daphne had the whole place to themselves. Even so, they put on the ruse of going to their makeshift office in the file room. Daphne shut the door.

"We have to be careful about this," she said.

"Well, obviously."

She gave him a flat stare. "This could get us in trouble, Rin."

"Mephisto basically gave us free reign to do what we want."

Daphne snorted. "And you think he'll corroborate that if we get caught? That guy's like a walking poster for double-crossing."

Rin had to concede the point.

"Besides, we don't want Akiyama to catch wind of what we're doing," Daphne continued. "She could tighten the clamps on security."

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you grilled her yesterday."

"Shut up. I haven't slept in a week."

Well, she'd slept, but not restfully. The stress of the situation had finally brought some of her old nightmares to the surface. Rin had woken to her murmuring the names of her old squad in her sleep like she'd used to when they'd first met. He'd been wondering if that was going to happen. It usually did when work got crazy.

They made a show of swapping reading, Rin glancing over the new profiles on the dead exorcists and Daphne taking a look at Akiyama's research article. They'd worked out their plan for the day the night before in the hotel. Daphne would get up and go to the bathroom at eight forty-five. Rin would head to the break room at eight fifty and put on a pot of coffee. The two of them would meet in the hallway that led down to the lab at eight fifty-two, break in, and be back in time to get the coffee before it cooled. They'd worked out the location of the lab before leaving the night before. Now it was just a matter of getting inside.

The first portion of the plan went off without a hitch. Rin met Daphne in front of the door to the lab without seeing anyone, and she'd done the same from the bathroom. They'd watched a couple of YouTube videos on picking locks with hairpins at the hotel the night before, but come the third failed attempt, Daphne just straight-up busted the handle off.

"Daph!" Rin hissed, laughing a little despite himself.

"Needs must," she replied. "We can call a repairman and get it fixed before the end of the day."

She pushed open the door and slipped inside. Shaking his head, Rin followed suit.

The inside of the lab was mostly non-descript—big empty tables and walls lined with counters with built-in shelving beneath them and cupboards up above. Two doors on the far side of the room had windows along their tops. On the other side of one was a space filled with desks and computers. The other went into some kind of storage space, maybe for specimens or supplies. It was full of shelves and shelves of boxes and bottles.

He and Daphne scoured every inch of the room as quickly as they could—they only had a few minutes—and they found nothing. Even so, Rin didn't think there was anything much to find. They met up at an emergency eye wash station in the middle of the counter, having gone opposite directions around the room.

"Well, damn," Daphne said. "I fully expected to find something sinister."

"I told you they wouldn't just leave a corpse out."

"Isn't it kind of weird, though, that they don't have _anything_ out? Don't labs usually have some long-term experiments going on?"

Rin glanced around the empty room. "I mean, yeah, but this is exorcism _and_ science. I don't really have a reference for how that works."

Daphne shook her head. "Me either."

They lingered for a moment, but the coffee would be done soon, and that was their alibi. Not particularly convincing, but it was the best they could manage. Daphne nodded her head at the eye wash station.

"I've always wanted to try one of these," she said.

It _was_ pretty weird—just a little bowl like a drinking fountain that stuck out from the wall, but with two spouts instead of one. There was a big handle on the right-hand side that said PUSH. Grinning, Rin did just that. Water sprayed up from both spouts and Daphne gasped, whacking his arm and shoving him away from the bowl.

"Don't," she said, and laughed. "We're not supposed to touch anything."

All the same, she reached over and pushed the handle herself. She smiled for a split second, then the expression disappeared. Daphne stared into the bowl in absolute shock.

"What?" Rin said, coming over. "It's not like they're gonna—"

He'd been about to say "dust for fingerprints," but one look at the bowl and the words got swallowed up in the back of his throat.

The water was draining in the shape of a five-pointed star.

" _Holy shit_."

Rin looked at Daphne. Her expression was grim.

"We need to see if this is happening at the murder site on Miyajima," she said. "Right now."


	16. Chapter 16

Daphne's heart pounded in her chest the whole walk to the train station, and it continued to pound on the train and the walk to the ferry, and even on the ferry itself, where she paced back and forth along the railing at the side. She wished the damn thing would move faster. Why were ferries so damned _slow?_ What was the point of a big, slow boat? The approach to Miyajima was windy, and every knot she tried to tie her hair into came loose.

"We might have to get in contact with the investigation team," Rin said as the ferry started—finally—to pull up to the dock. "You know, tell them we're coming."

Daphne shook her head. "No time. Call them if you want, but if they don't answer, we're pushing ahead."

She made sure they were the first people off that boat and flew down the gangway, leaving Rin trapped behind some tourists. He called after her, but she barely heard him as she walked swiftly away from the ferry terminal and toward town. Rin caught up just as she went into the first all-purpose shop along the water front. Inside, she bought the biggest funnel she could find, a large plastic bowl, and as many bottles of water as she could carry in one arm. She passed half the water bottles to Rin and left the shop. He dropped a few as he tried to follow.

"What's the plan, then?" he asked, stumbling up alongside her.

"We take these up to the murder site and see if the water makes the same shape up there," she said. "If it does…" She hadn't fully formed that thought yet. She hadn't really processed what they'd seen in the lab for that matter. "If it does, that means our demon, the lab, and the murders are connected somehow."

"And if it doesn't?"

Daphne shook her head. "Then we're back to square one."

The trek up the side of the mountain was grueling, and she lost a little of her speed on the incline. Eventually, she and Rin made their way along that near-hidden path through the woods that led to the clearing. The whole section had been roped off, but she ducked under the tape without a second thought. Any forensics would have been gathered long before now. She didn't go too far into the clearing, though, instead lingering a few feet away from the edge. Rin followed suit.

"You wanna hold or pour?" she asked, setting down her portion of the water bottles and offering him the bowl and funnel.

"Hold," he said, and took the bowl.

Daphne uncapped a water bottle. She took a deep breath. Her eyes closed. For a moment she tried to center herself, to feel out that presence like she'd done so many times before. But it wasn't there. She hadn't felt it at all since they'd exorcised those ghouls. Part of her had assumed that it would return with them to Hiroshima, but it hadn't, and it wasn't on the island now either. Daphne opened her eyes.

Extending both arms, she held the funnel over the bowl in Rin's hands and poured the water into the funnel. Nothing happened. Daphne frowned. She uncapped another water bottle and poured that one into the funnel, running the water down the edge so that had to fan out along the surface. Nothing happened. She uncapped another and poured. Nothing.

"It's not working, Daph."

"No, it has to. This has to be right."

She picked up another water bottle and poured that one in, too, then another. The bowl in Rin's hands filled up. She got another bottle.

"It's not working," Rin said. "It's not here, Daph."

"No, this happens after that presence _leaves_ some place," she said, pouring the water of another bottle in. The bowl overflowed. "It's a mark, a lingering effect. It doesn't mean it's here, it means it _has been_."

Still nothing.

Daphne grabbed the bowl out of Rin's hands.

"Woah—hey—what the hell?"

He stumbled back to get out of the way of the water as it spilled from the bowl, and only narrowly avoided the splash when Daphne dumped its contents on the ground and crouched next to it. She summoned Pollux from its seal, overturned the bowl, and stabbed the blade through the bottom. Then she gripped the handle, bonded her hand, and twisted until the plastic gave way and let the sword carve out a haphazard circle. Sheathing Pollux, she stood and held out the bowl to Rin.

"Funnel wasn't big enough," she said.

Eyeing her, Rin hesitantly reclaimed the bowl.

Daphne grabbed another water bottle. She took the lid off, praying, _willing_ it to work this time. It _had_ to work. She knew that demon had been here. She was certain of it. All she needed was proof.

She placed the lip of the bottle at the edge of the bowl and poured the water in, circling around the outside. The water ran down the sides, then, where it neared the center, it suddenly turned ninety degrees, making the briefest flash of a five pointed star before dripping onto the grass. Daphne grabbed another bottle and tried again, to the same effect. Finally that furious pounding of her heart subsided, but it was replaced instead with a cold dread.

"It was here, Rin."

Rin shook his head. "But what does that mean?"

"Maybe we should ask our friend Akiyama."

Daphne opened the final bottle and poured the water through the bowl just to be sure. The star was faint, but she was certain that was because the bowl was a poor drain and the bottle couldn't provide a continuous stream of water.

"She's not going to tell us anything."

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't ask."

"No, but we have to ask the right way," Rin replied. He gathered up the empty bottles and put them in the bowl with the funnel. "If we bully her, she'll shut down and then we'll never get any answers."

Daphne hated to admit it, but he was right. Whatever was going on here, Akiyama either had no idea or had worked very hard to keep it hush-hush. If she was pushed too hard, she might destroy any remaining evidence, and if she did that, they might never figure out what was going on. Daphne shivered. That demon had nearly drowned her. She needed to know how to kill it.

"Did you want to head back to Hiroshima?" Rin asked.

She nodded. It would take them a long time to get back to the office, and they'd be lucky to catch the receptionist before he left for the day. Rin was right, and they should go about their interview the proper way, make an appointment with Akiyama for the following morning. As it turned out, however, they didn't need to make an appointment at all. When they walked back into the office, a whole team of policemen was there, and so was the director, all of them clustered around the broken handle of the door into the lab.

Akiyama made eye contact with them from the other end of the hall. Her jaw clenched. Rin and Daphne froze. They'd forgotten to arrange for a repairman.

"Lord Pheles has been notified of this incident," Akiyama said through her teeth. "And he is on his way here. Right now."


	17. Chapter 17

Mephisto took a really long time pouring the boiling water from a kettle into a cup of instant ramen and securing his special timer around the lid. Rin and Daphne and Akiyama sat on the opposite side of the desk in the director's office, waiting in silence. Eventually, Mephisto looked up and smiled.

"So. What seems to be the issue?"

"These… _people_ broke into our lab," Akiyama sputtered. "They aren't supposed to be let into the office at all on a Sunday, and on top of that, they destroyed our only security measure!"

Daphne snorted. "Not very secure if all you've got is a lock on the door."

Akiyama glared at her. "So you admit guilt."

"I admit nothing," Daphne replied.

"So, the handle on the door to the lab was broken, and Miss Lux and Mister Okumura were given admittance to the building on a Sunday." Mephisto raised his eyebrows at Akiyama.

"They were the only people _in_ the office," she said.

"Was anything in the lab…damaged or tampered with?"

"No."

"Was anything removed?"

"Not as far as we can tell, no." Akiyama sank a little into her seat, looking sheepish.

"I believe you said on the phone this was a matter of the utmost importance." Mephisto got this look in his eye that Rin suspected was familiar to Akiyama given the way it made her squirm. "Why have I been brought out here?"

"Because as far as I can tell, the only person responsible for these—these _rogues_ is you, Lord Pheles." Akiyama nearly threw her hands into the air, but resisted. "Whatever they're meant to be doing here, it lies outside the normal chain of command."

"Mm-hm."

"And—and they're married."

"Yes?"

"And you allow them to work in the same office? Nay, as _partners?_ "

"Yes."

"Doesn't that create a conflict of interest? A liability?"

Mephisto leaned forward, his eyes glinting, lacing his fingers together to prop his chin on them and smile. "Have you seen them fight together?"

Akiyama glanced in Rin and Daphne's direction. "I have not."

"That's a shame." Mephisto sat back. "Anyway, Director, if you have a formal complaint to file, please feel free to do so through the proper channels, and I will see that it is ignored in the proper fashion."

Akiyama opened her mouth, but the timer on Mephisto's cup noodle lid dinged and completely monopolized his attention. Rin glanced at Daphne, raising his eyebrows. She shook her head, so Rin nodded and kept his mouth shut. It was possible something would come out of this visit that they wouldn't have to reveal any of their cards to get.

Mephisto slurped his noodles into his mouth, then sighed, a satisfied smile spreading out on his face. "Was there something in the lab you were worried about Miss Lux and Mr. Okumura encountering?" he asked.

"No," Akiyama replied. "Of course not."

Hovering over the noodles to breathe in the steam, Mephisto glanced up at the three of them. "Miss Lux. Mr. Okumura. Was there something in the lab you wanted to find?"

"Who said we were the ones who broke in?" Daphne countered.

Mephisto grinned at her. "Not I, Miss Lux."

"This is a farce," Akiyama said, rising from her seat. "An absolute farce. We _know_ it was them. They've been here for a _week_ poking around in our files, asking for admittance to our offices, doing god knows what…" From her vantage point above them, Akiyama seemed to come to a realization. Her eyes flicked to Mephisto. "Why are they here, Lord Pheles?"

"To continue collaboration work on the murder of your nine exorcists, Director."

" _Why_ are they _here?_ "

"My, my. That almost sounded like a demand." His expression darkened and he took a second slurp of noodles. "Bold."

Akiyama swallowed.

"Tell me, what have your researchers been working on as of late in that lab of yours?"

"Not much, sir," Akiyama said, taking her seat. "Just…just demon pharmaceuticals."

"Demon pharmaceuticals. Hm. Miss Lux. Mr. Okumura. Do either of _you_ have an interest in demon pharmaceuticals?"

Rin shook his head. Daphne shrugged. "I never studied for a Doctor meister," she said.

"So, Director, why would two exorcists, neither of whom hold any vested interest in pharmaceuticals break into a lab where pharmaceutical research was being conducted? Unless there was something going on that fell outside of a Doctor's scope? And why would the woman in charge of that office react so extremely as summoning the head of the Japan Branch of the Knights of the True Cross to her godforsaken outpost unless she had something to hide?"

Akiyama's face was pale. Her fists were clenched. She looked down at her lap for a long, long time, breathing in and out pretty deeply.

"With all due respect, sir," she said, still facing her lap, "I have nothing to hide."

"Then perhaps you would be so good as to let Miss Lux and Mr. Okumura take a look around your lab for you. Perhaps they'll be able to find something you missed."

"Perhaps, _sir_."

Mephisto looked to Rin and Daphne. "I believe the director has just given her permission for the two of you to help her investigate the break-in at her lab. Would you be so kind?"

"Uh…sure." Rin got up and waited for Daphne to follow, but surprisingly, Mephisto got to his feet first.

"Lead the way, Mr. Okumura. Let us see what it is that this lab has to offer. After all, the director was very insistent I myself be present."

He gestured to the door. Daphne stood up. She exchanged surprised expressions with Rin and followed him out of the room. Behind them, apparently Akiyama tried to join in, but Mephisto shut her down with a pleasant, but deadly, "No, no, Director. I think it would be best if you stayed here." Then he swept out into the hall, shut the door, and tapped the doorknob with the point of his umbrella.

"Now then," he said. "Show me what you found."

* * *

Loyalty was a rare show from Mephisto. Daphne was so caught off-guard that by the time they reached the door to the lab, she hadn't fully processed what it was they should be showing him. Rin, thankfully, had his wits about him, and took the demon king straight to the emergency eye wash station. Even then, Daphne still couldn't stop puzzling over the fact that he hadn't sold them out.

"This is all we found," Rin said, pushing the handle to get the water running. "After that we left and went to the murder site."

"And?"

"Water there does this same thing."

"Hm." Mephisto tried the handle for himself when Rin let go, his eyes locked on the shape of the five-pointed star.

"Best we can figure is that it's some kind of after-effect. Every time that demon we told you about shows up, this happens. In some form." Rin shrugged.

"I assume by now you are familiar with the kind of research Director Akiyama was engaged in before she was reassigned out here," Mephisto said. He straightened up from the bowl and glanced at the open door to the lab. A flick of his wrist and the door swung softly shut. He tapped the tip of his umbrella twice against the linoleum, sending out some kind of shimmering pink wave that glossed the room. "Speak freely."

"We're not super familiar," Rin replied. "We read the only article she's got in the database."

"Yes, well. That is damning enough." Mephisto leaned against one of the lab tables. "I had thought that her punishment would have been sufficient to discourage her from continuing her experiments, but evidently that is not the case."

"But the lab only does pharmaceuticals," Rin said. "None of her researchers have published findings in any of their fields in years, and she hasn't even published _anything_."

"The no damages reports," Daphne said.

"Precisely, Miss Lux."

It fit. If Akiyama wanted to conduct research on the sly, she would still have to account for the use of personnel and resources, and it was a better ruse to file those uses away under a completely different category not related to research at all. If the exorcists had gone out, done whatever it was they'd wanted to do, and returned—a simple exorcism report would suffice to explain their whereabouts. Except there hadn't been any exorcisms, so there hadn't been any reported damages. It was perfect. Except that Mephisto had ferreted out the information.

"Why did she call you?" Daphne asked.

Mephisto settled his hands over the handle of his umbrella. "Because she is a fool."

"She couldn't have known you had picked up on the reports," Daphne replied. They were too small, too insignificant. "How _did_ you pick up on them?"

"Let us say that I was given a tip to keep my eyes open."

"From whom?"

He chuckled. "Miss Lux. It is the business of demons."

In answer, Daphne just gestured at Rin.

This time, Mephisto laughed outright. "Touché. Very well then, if you must know."

"I insist on knowing." Daphne folded her arms while Mephisto cleared his throat.

"There are certain rules and workings in Gehenna which I would not expect either of you to understand," he began. "Demon kings do exercise some control over the fates and lives of their kin, and occasionally measures are taken on their behalf." He glanced between Rin and Daphne. "An intelligence has long existed in Gehenna. A spirit. Kin of Azazel, which he has kept imprisoned."

Rin's eyebrows drew together. "Why?"

"For the protection of us all, baby brother," Mephisto replied. "She is a demon who possesses demons."

The color drained from Rin's face. "The ghouls," he said. "And the goblins…"

"Mm. Rather than risk learning or furthering her power, Azazel locked her up. Recently, there have been some efforts or attempts or what-have-you to free her. As soon as she disappeared from Gehenna, he asked me to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity."

"Why didn't you just tell us this in the first place?" Daphne asked, grinding her teeth.

"Because yours was not the only case I'd decided to look into," Mephisto replied. "I've had hundreds of agents investigating various occurrences for weeks on end. I couldn't disclose this information to everyone on a whim."

"And our investigation just happened to be the one that didn't wind up in a dead end?" Daphne narrowed her eyes.

"If you like."

Growling, Daphne stepped toward him, but Rin caught her wrist and pulled her to a stop. Mephisto put up his hands in mock supplication.

"Believe as you please, Miss Lux, but this demon is real and I am certain you have found her," he said. "The evidence collected in your journal of encounters and recent manifestations have convinced me of that."

"How does Akiyama figure into all of this?" Rin asked.

Mephisto smiled. "That, dear brother, is where your investigation continues."


	18. Chapter 18

The three of them returned to Akiyama's office, but Mephisto disappeared in a puff of pink smoke after releasing whatever weird spell he'd placed on the lock when they'd left. Rin knocked before opening the door, but he felt so uneasy. A demon that could possess demons? The implications were huge.

Akiyama didn't look like she'd moved much. She was still hunched over her knees in a chair in front of her desk, but she lifted her head when Rin and Daphne came into the room.

"No sense in beating around the bush," Daphne said, grabbing her old chair and pulling it up to sit in front of Akiyama. "We know the kind of research you were engaged in, and that you are still engaged in it."

"We'd appreciate your cooperation in this, Director," Rin said, smiling as kindly as he could for as sick as he felt. "Please."

Akiyama held Rin's eye, then looked down and sighed. "Let me begin by saying that I have not been engaged in research for a number of months."

"The evidence would suggest otherwise," Daphne said.

"Yes, I feared as much…"

She went quiet. Daphne and Rin exchanged expressions, but said nothing. They waited, the clock on the wall filling their silence with ticking. Akiyama drew a breath in.

"The exorcists whose bodies you found on Miyajima, they…they were members of my research team, but recently they became much more—I'm not sure— _driven_ than I was," she said. "Our experiments grew too dangerous and I called a halt to the research, but I suspected they continued without me. Unfortunately, my suspicions were confirmed when the two of you showed up to tell me they were dead."

"Tell us about your experiments, Director."

"We wanted to find a way to bind _any_ demon with an exorcist the same way familiars are bound to their Tamers," she said, sitting up fully. "If the two of you have read what little of my research is still available, you'll know this has long been an interest of mine." She glanced between the two of them and Rin nodded.

"After some…unfortunate results with a particular experiment, my research was disbanded, removed from the database, and I was sent out here to Hiroshima."

Daphne folded her arms. "Unfortunate how?"

"Three participant exorcists died and the demon they'd bonded with destroyed our lab."

Under different circumstances, Rin might have laughed. That sounded absolutely ridiculous, and it was, except that this was the same research he'd read about—horrific dissection of demons and familiars—and it had apparently led to the manifestation of a demon capable of possessing other demons.

"You continued your research after an accident like _that?_ " Daphe asked, incredulous.

"It _worked_ ," Akiyama replied. "Don't you see? It _worked_. We successfully bonded non-Tamer exorcists with non-familiar demons. It _was_ possible, and I couldn't let anything put development on hold."

"So you continued your experiments in secret?"

Akiyama nodded. "Over the course of several years, I gathered a team as dedicated to the work as I was. We developed a series of artificial spells and binding agents that were successful in summoning low-level demons for a short period of time, and after that some of the team—the nine you found on Misen—were eager to move onto high level demons right away. I could not, in good conscience as a scientist, push the experiment that far yet. We needed more evidence, more security, but they were insistent. I couldn't persuade them, so I called the experiments to a halt. I thought maybe I'd smoke them out, wait for them to see my point and then do things correctly, but recently I've begun to suspect that they kept working behind my back. Which they evidently did."

Daphne sat up. "Your spells—the binding agents or whatever—do they have any effect on the demons? Do they leave any marks?"

"The spell relies on a basic five-pointed star within a summoning circle, but it's augmented with Aria scripture. Depending on the kind of demon you want to summon and the kind of bond you want to form with it, you add to the summoning lines or change the scripture. Any imperfections and you lose control."

"Okay, but is there any way to tell that a demon was summoned by one of your spells rather than manifesting on its own or with a Tamer?"

Akiyama thought for a moment, but nodded. "The spells sometimes enhanced a demon's power—which was one of the reasons I wanted to hold off on summoning anything high level. We'd summon coltars as strong as goblins. There were environmental effects as well—minor changes in gravitational pull."

Daphne glanced up at Rin. "Like the eye wash station in your lab?"

"Exactly. Objects rolling in odd directions, or being attracted to the site of manifestation, things like that."

Nodding, Daphne stood up and took a step toward the door. "Director, if you would wait here, please. Rin—hallway…" She opened the door and held it for him, shutting it softly behind her and putting her hand over her mouth, her brow furrowed. "This is bad," she said.

"Akiyama's researchers summoned that demon we've been dealing with," he replied.

"That's the best explanation, yeah."

"And the demon we've been dealing with is one Azazel was keeping imprisoned in Gehenna for…being dangerous."

"It must have been what killed them. I can almost guarantee it was those artificial spells that broke the demon out," Daphne said. "I don't know how Azazel was keeping it in, but I doubt the method was brand-new-fake-Tamer-spell-proof."

"What do we do?"

Daphne shook her head. "I really don't know."

"Do we trust Akiyama?"

"Well, she's not _dead_ , so that's a start."

"At the very least, we know for sure she wasn't involved in summoning our demon." He felt weird saying "our" but it seemed the easiest way to describe it. The thing had kind of latched onto them after all. "She was genuinely surprised when we told her the others were dead."

"As far as I'm concerned, she doesn't have any reason to keep up the charade." Daphne pursed her lips. "And I don't know why she would fabricate lies as elaborate as what she just told us."

"So we trust her."

"No. But I'll trust what she said is true."

Rin nodded firmly. He could agree to that. The whole situation had put him on edge, honestly. Was this what Daphne felt like when she got into those dangerous moods of hers? Like there was something lurking around every corner waiting to pounce? He had an inkling that it might be.

"We need to ensure Akiyama's cooperation and get back to Academy Town and hunt this thing down," Daphne added. "ASAP."

"I agree."

"Good," Daphne said and put her hand on the doorknob to go back in. "Hopefully she'll agree to do a little of the legwork for us. The fewer times I have to come back to Hiroshima the better."


	19. Chapter 19

Thankfully, Akiyama did agree to keep quiet about her research and the fact that Daphne and Rin knew. Daphne had no reservations about bullying her into keeping an eye out and reporting any manifestations that left behind that gravitational distortion as well. So, the Okumuras left Hiroshima and finally, blessedly returned home.

Things had been busy over the weekend, with plenty of reports of demon manifestations involving that five-pointed star. Daphne left Rin to sort through them and returned to her classroom. Her English students had been without their teacher for more than a week, and she had been without their sanity-inducing normality. For once, she was glad to stand at the front of the classroom and lecture on Yeats to a group of high school students who could not have cared less. It made her feet feel a little more firmly planted on the ground.

After school, she met up with Rin.

"There doesn't seem to be a pattern to the manifestations yet," he said, showing Daphne a map of Academy Town and the area around it that had each instance marked. "But I asked that anything with the gravitational effect get flagged. We'll be notified every time a manifestation like this occurs."

Daphne glanced over the map as she listened. She couldn't discern a pattern either, but there were only eight plotted points.

"Oh. I also filled Mephisto in on what we know."

She looked up. "And?"

Rin shrugged. "He didn't say much."

"Typical."

"He seems to think we're more than enough to deal with this demon—whatever it is."

There was an uncharacteristic shiver in Rin's voice. He even looked away, focusing his gaze blankly on the opposite side of the room. Daphne leaned over to put herself in his line of sight.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, just—" He shook his head. "Something about the demon makes me uneasy."

"We were definitely playing with fire before," Daphne agreed.

"I don't think we should try to draw it out again."

Daphne shivered herself, thinking of that time in the bathtub in the girls' locker room. It had manifested with so much power, the whole room had been under the influence of the gravitational after-effect. They'd been reckless—chasing things down mountains and intentionally seeking after a power they didn't understand. Granted, that was kind of their M.O., but Daphne had to agree with Rin. If this was a demon Azazel had kept imprisoned—regardless of the reason—it was probably best dealt with via a very long stick.

"We won't need to," she said, and tapped a finger on the map. "We'll monitor its activities this way."

Over the course of the next couple of days, a few more demons manifested that showed the movement of the five-pointed star. Daphne and Rin went down to each site, took notes, and made observations. Daphne would have liked to have left one or two of the demons un-exorcised, just to see if the effect would eventually wear off, but of course that wasn't permitted. They left the actual exorcisms to the crews on site and departed each having learned relatively little.

Both of them returned to their standard teaching schedules. Even their typical load of exorcisms reverted to normal. Gradually, more and more manifestation points were plotted on their map. A pattern emerged. The demon was moving away from Academy Town, headed north.

Distant field offices were notified of the potential, asked to report any manifestations that matched the description provided. They did, but after another couple of days, the trail went cold. Either the field offices weren't reporting, or the demon had stopped manifesting. Daphne didn't know what to make of it.

"Why would it attach itself to us and then move so far away?"

Rin had relaxed as the trail had led north, away from them, but now that things had changed he was unsettled all over again.

"I don't know," he said. "But I don't like it."

* * *

Spirit ached to leave her beings behind, but it was an evil she was certain she had to endure. With each demon she possessed, she gained a clarity of mind, a strength of limb, and in order to bond with her beings—in order to become one with the dark one—she would have to be at her strongest, best, most clear.

So she sought after demons whose power she could siphon.

She was willing to go as far as needed, willing to fight as many others as it took. As she traveled, she lost track of her beings and could no longer sense them, but she knew where they would be. She had left her mark.

With each possession, Spirit grew.

* * *

Daphne had been so caught up in the whirlwind of bizarre manifestations and secret investigations that she didn't notice her period was late. But when she did notice, she _noticed_. The realization hit her harder than anything that had happened over the last few weeks and she knew instantly, without a single test, what it meant.

She went out for a test anyway.

She left immediately, running down to the nearest drugstore and grabbing the first pregnancy test she could find. It was she could do not to throw up with anxiety, to keep her eyes from watering, while she waited at the checkout. She didn't even go home—she went straight into the bathroom at the drugstore. Staring at the pink strip with a plus sign, all she could feel was…nothing.

She couldn't be pregnant.

Not now.

She couldn't be pregnant.

She couldn't be.


	20. Chapter 20

Daphne looked absolutely beat when she came home that night, dropping her bag on the floor and shedding her shoes and stumbling into her house slippers as she untangled herself from her jacket and hung it up. Rin watched her from the kitchen, tracking her slow progress through the living room, then to him. He'd turned away from the stovetop enough that Daphne could walk right up and wrap her arms around him in a kiss. It wasn't a hello kiss; it lasted too long.

"I love you," she said, pulling back, and, without saying anything else, she went upstairs.

Rin puzzled in front of the stove until the noodles started to boil over and demanded his attention. When Daphne reappeared, she'd changed clothes and had a completely different look on her face—almost like she'd traded places with another person.

"Any updates?" she asked, smiling, carefully reaching around him to fish a noodle out of the water and carry it quickly to the sink to rinse off some of the heat before she put it in her mouth.

"No. You?"

He glanced at her and just caught the slightest glimpse of the return of that tired Daphne. She snapped it off to say, "No. Nothing."

She was cheery all through dinner, and it wouldn't have been weird if she hadn't come into the house the way she had to begin with. Something about it just felt forced, but Rin didn't pry. He knew better. Besides, the lack of manifestations of their demon had them both on edge. They wanted to find it. As quickly as possible.

During the dishes, Daphne went quiet. He'd cooked, so she cleaned, but he didn't relax. He watched her tense arms as she rinsed each plate, the absent placement of each dish on the drying rack, and chewed on his lip.

"Are you—"

His phone went off and interrupted the question. Frowning, Rin dug it out of his pocket. Dispatch.

"Rin Okumura," he answered.

"Mr. Okumura, good evening," whoever it was that was running calls for the night said on the other side. "We're sorry to bother you, but your manifestation flag just turned up a hit."

Rin tensed. "Where?"

"Just outside the city," the voice replied. "In the northern warehouse district."

"Text me the address," Rin said and got up from the table. "We're on our way."

He only had to glance at Daphne. She understood.

In a flash, the two of them grabbed their coats and shoes, and Rin grabbed Kurikara, and they left the house, walking briskly down to the main road and flagging a taxi. Rin showed the driver the address the dispatcher had sent him.

"As fast as you can, please."

And they were off.

Rin drummed his fingers nervously against the seat the whole ride there. Daphne sat in anxious silence. The driver tried to strike up a conversation a few times, but deadly stares from both of them eventually discouraged the guy enough to shut him up. The ride was expensive, but Rin shelled out the yen without even thinking twice about it, getting out of the car and stepping onto the asphalt.

Immediately he could sense that presence.

Immediately he knew something about it had changed.

Daphne started off without him, jogging away from the street and toward a warehouse that had exorcists out in front of it. Rin couldn't get his feet to move. That thing hadn't always been this _powerful_ , had it?

"Rin?" Daphne called back. "Are you coming?"

He nodded, took a step, froze. Then he nodded again, and forced himself forward, but his legs felt like they were moving knee-deep through mud. The tension loosened as he walked, but not enough to be completely gone by the time he and Daphne reached the door and the exorcists. One of them gave an awkward salute.

"We've just secured our perimeter," she said. "Thank you for coming down. We're not really sure what to do. The warehouse is full of, uh, coltars. Lots of rotting beams."

"And they're moving according to pattern?" Daphne asked.

"Not all of them, no," the woman responded. "You'll, um, see what I mean. Follow me."

She gestured for them to go with her as she led the way into the warehouse through an open door. Inside, the space was big and mostly empty—a storage facility without much to store. A few exorcists had set up spotlight beams to illuminate the vast darkness, but in the center there was a darkness they could not illuminate: a cloud of coltars that buzzed and swarmed, probably five thousand strong. The mass of them nearly reached the ceiling. Daphne came to an immediate halt.

"We estimate an additional thousand or so are in the building," the exorcist who had brought them inside said, pointing at a free-floating coltar not far from her head. "But they're slowly joining that swarm in the center."

"It's not unusual for coltars to swarm," Daphne said, swallowing.

"No, precisely." The exorcist gestured them forward once more and Rin and Daphne followed her closer to the mass. "Two-thirds of them _are_ swarming, the others…"

Rin squinted. It was difficult to distinguish, but yes, without a doubt, a portion of the coltars were flying frenzied in the shape of a large, five-pointed star. Even as he watched, others began to do the same. It wouldn't be long before the whole swarm was perfectly organized—just like the goblins or the ghouls or all those other demons they'd seen. He glanced at Daphne and it looked like she'd reached the same conclusion. Her skin was ghostly pale. She'd got her temptaint through coltars. Seeing so many of them all at once no doubt brought up memories.

"We were called out to take care of them before there was a swarm," the exorcist said. "When we arrived, only a few were making this pattern, but it didn't take long for the others to react. It's been growing since then." She glanced between the two of them. "What would you recommend?"

Rin looked to Daphne, and her eyes were fixed on the swarm. She shook herself out of it, though, to give him a curt nod.

"We'll need to talk alone," Rin told the exorcist.

She nodded. "I'll keep my team on the Fatal Verse for now," she said and walked off.

Neither Daphne nor Rin spoke for a second after she left.

"I can feel it, Rin," Daphne said.

Frankly, Rin couldn't believe she hadn't felt it the second she'd gotten out of the car, like he had, but it _was_ different, and Daphne—as powerful and Gehenna-ridden as she was—wasn't half demon. She turned her focus to the swarm again and studied, her eyes rapidly tracking their movement.

"What do we do?"

Hell if Rin knew. He shook his head. "If the ghouls are anything to go on, this could turn south fast."

The other recent manifestations that had shown the gravitational distortion had been duds, like the goblins, where the presence, no, the _demon_ had manifested but hadn't stuck around. He and Daphne hadn't been able to get much information out of the sites except the pattern that the demon had been moving north. Now it was _here_ , in the same _room_ as them, apparently possessing coltars. Half of them were swarming in a star shape now.

"We can't just stand here, Rin," Daphne said, but she was equally frozen, scolding herself more than she was scolding him.

He nodded, but didn't move. Coming face to face with the demon again knowing full-well what they were dealing with, Rin found himself stuck. That thick mud feeling from before started to creep up to his waist.

"Why come back now? What does it want?" Daphne wondered aloud.

Rin watched as more and more coltars joined the star-shaped throng.

"Why bother possessing and discarding demons at all?"

Then it clicked.

Automatically, Rin stuck an arm out to sweep Daphne back with him as he retreated from the swarm to the perimeter. Startled, she followed, staring at him for an explanation.

"It's taking their power, Daph," Rin said. "That's why it feels different. Every demon it possesses makes it grow stronger." Or, at least, that's what he _thought_. It felt right somehow. He knew. Almost like it had communicated with him.

Rin realized in that moment that it was not "it" but "she", and as soon as that thought crossed his mind, the swarm of coltars became a tempest and a wind whipped up like a tornado in the warehouse, shattering one of the bulbs on the spotlight beams. The lights of the others flickered and Rin felt that presence _focus_ on him. She hadn't realized he was there.

Rin drew Kurikara immediately.

He barely heard Daphne's protest as he swung the blade around to bear and stalked forward toward the swarm, the blue flame igniting. It excited the coltars and their formation pulled tight. That demon may have taken over three or four thousand, but Rin would not let her have any more. He stoked his flames higher, burning the tiny demons that were still free as he passed them.

 _Hello, dark one,_ she spoke in his mind, gentle, caressing, but, like dipping a toe into a raging current, there was power underneath the surface. Power that could kill.

Rin did not respond.

 _Dark one?_ _Do you hear me?_

Behind him, Daphne shouted orders to the other exorcists to get rid of the coltars as quickly as possible, and the lead exorcist gave more specific instructions.

 _Dark one?_

She sounded worried, confused. Hurt, almost. It nearly made Rin pause, but the wind howled through the warehouse once more and shattered another light. The exorcist manning it cried out in pain. Rin gritted his teeth and pressed forward. The wind was stronger near the swarm, pushing him back.

"What do you want?" he shouted into it.

 _I want to be one,_ she replied.

Then it happened. She reached out. Rin felt but could not see her, and her strength was incredible as she pressed her hands against his chest. He just reacted. It was reflex. She touched him and he let loose—involuntary. An act of self-preservation more than anything.

An eruption of blue flame filled the entire warehouse. The coltars were consumed, and the demon shrieked, releasing Rin and fleeing in a panic. Once the flame went out, Rin and Daphne and the exorcists were the only things left in the place, everything non-living or demon having been burned up. Rin fell to his knees, his energy completely zapped. He had to steady himself on Kurikara.

Daphne appeared at his side. She waved back a few of the other exorcists who tried to come near, then crouched and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you all right?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Did I hurt anybody?"

"No, no, I don't think so. What happened?"

Rin shook his head. He let out his breath.

"She tried to possess me."

He looked grimly at Daphne. She leaned away, the severity of the statement far from lost on her. All around the perimeter of the warehouse, the other exorcists chattered about the excitement of the encounter and the blue flame and how it hadn't hurt at all. Rin and Daphne sat silent.

"What do we do?" Daphne asked. It was the second time she'd said those words in just a couple of minutes, but their meaning had changed completely now.

Rin shook his head.

"I don't know."


	21. Chapter 21

Daphne sat and ruminated outside the bathroom door while Rin was in the shower. She was loath to be too distant from him. In case something went wrong. In case that demon came back. In case that demon came back and tried to kill her, or him, or both of them. In case it manifested in the body of a bigger, stronger demon and attacked. In case—

Daphne jolted. Those Afghan sands had started to swirl around her.

She drew in and let out a deep breath, resting her head against the wall. Then she thought better of it and sat forward instead, so she'd have easier access to her sword seals. Then she thought better of _that_ and got to her feet. If she was sitting and that demon appeared…

Drifting again.

She shook her head and flicked her fingers to get some blood flow going. She started to pace. Back and forth in front of the bathroom door. Rin had been in there for a long time, it seemed. Longer than he was usually in the shower, which could have been because he was exhausted and the heat was relaxing, or could have been because the demon had already manifested inside and taken him out.

Daphne had opened the door and peeked her head inside before she realized what she was doing. Rin was there, in one piece, letting the water hit him right in the face. He opened his eyes.

"Jesus!" he said, jumping and nearly slipping in the basin of the tub. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry," she said softly. "I got worried."

His posture relaxed. He understood.

Daphne came in and sat once more, leaning against the sink and closing her eyes to breathe in the steam. All night she'd been trying to wrap her mind around the fact that that demon had attempted to possess her husband. What if it had succeeded? What would that mean? Her hands drifted to cover her lower abdomen. What about the baby? A reeling wave of anxious sickness overtook her. If something happened to Rin, she couldn't raise a baby on her own. Her fingers tensed, digging into her skin.

Rin shut off the water.

"Pass me a towel, Daph?"

She sat up with a jolt, grabbed a towel from under the sink, and handed it to Rin in a hurry. She stared at the tile while he dried off. She should tell him. She should, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out.

Rin dressed and released a weary sigh. After hanging up the towel, he offered Daphne a hand and she jumped when it appeared in front of her face. She took it, trembling, and let him help her to her feet.

"Maybe Mephisto will have ideas," Rin said.

"Maybe," Daphne whispered.

Somehow, she didn't think so. Somehow, it seemed like even a demon king might have been out of his depth. After all, Azazel had kept the spirit imprisoned out of fear.

Rin hadn't let go of her hand, so he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her. Daphne was too rigid to relax, but Rin held on, running his hands up and down her back until she did. It had been a long time since she had felt as frightened as she did then, but the sensation was hardly unfamiliar. Rin slipped his hands beneath her shirt and let his fingers drift along her spine. His touch was warm.

"Please don't go AWOL on me," he whispered.

Daphne stiffened. Her nose crinkled and hot, shameful tears filled her eyes. Pressing her face into Rin's shoulder, she held him tight.

"I need you," he said.

She nodded. "I know."

She was self-indulgent sometimes. Sometimes she _let_ herself drift into that familiar anxiety simply because it _was_ familiar. She knew how to stay out of it—she'd learned painfully, and there was no point to that pain if she didn't apply it. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself. Rin was just as scared—and just as strong—as she was.

Leaning back, she looked into his eyes for a moment. Beautiful. Blue. She brushed a hand across his cheek and through his hair. He was going to be a father. She should have told him, but she found herself pressing her lips to his instead.

She should have told him, but he kissed her back and held her close and slid those fiery fingers of his further down her back.

* * *

Daphne kept quiet and so did their spirit. After the incident with the coltars, their manifestation flag went dead like it had before, this time, with greater unease. When Daphne and Rin had gone in to report to Mephisto, the demon king simply hadn't been there. They'd asked the school staff, even the higher-ups in the Knights of the True Cross and every one of them had said he'd taken leave. None of them had an explanation as to where or why.

It seemed to Daphne that the spirit could have been lurking around every corner, and she knew Rin was equally edgy. The only consolation they had was the familiarity and strength of its presence. If it was going to show up, they'd know immediately. That didn't exactly make them feel better, however.

Both of them went through the motions—teaching, exorcising, training—both of them carrying the weight of their knowledge. Everyone else just seemed so blissfully unaware, happier for not knowing that a demon-possessing demon not only _existed_ , but had already possessed several thousand demons _and_ made a move on Rin. Daphne herself carried the additional secret that was her pregnancy.

She fought to stay ahead of her anxiety, her memories, everything, but she could feel herself slipping. Days turned into weeks. Still that demon stayed silent. It bore an uncanny and unwelcome resemblance to Morpheus and the semicapers and half of Daphne wished the thing would show its face already.

The other half hoped it would stay silent forever.

* * *

Rin was brushing his teeth on a Saturday morning when he turned around and found Daphne staring at his tail with this weird look on her face.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, though it sounded funny with all the toothpaste foam in his mouth.

Daphne started, coming out of deep thought. "No, I just realized—" She cut herself off. It looked like she had to physically force down the words she'd been about to say, and after she did, she offered a canned smile, came into the bathroom, and grabbed her own toothbrush. She'd been having pretty frequent nightmares lately. Rin could tell she was trying desperately to keep it together, but her worry had made her sick most mornings.

He wasn't on the up and up himself. Mephisto still hadn't returned from wherever he'd gone, so he and Daphne had had no one to talk to but each other about the situation. The reality that there was a demon out there who could take over his body loomed over him constantly. He was certain she was out looking for other creatures to possess, absorbing power and biding her time. That was the thing with demons. Eternal beings never have to rush.

Rin finished brushing his teeth and spit in the sink. "You still up for that garden party at Shiemi's tonight?"

"I wouldn't call it a garden party."

"That doesn't answer my question."

The two of them had standing plans with Yukio and Shiemi for the third Saturday of every month. "Double Date Night" as Shiemi called it. This month's had been Shiemi's to plan, and she was going all out, according to Yukio's report. Lanterns and luminaries, tables in the garden.

Daphne sighed. "Up for? No. Willing and planning to attend? Yes."

Smiling, Rin kissed her temple. "You're the best, Daph."

When he pulled away, it looked for a second like what he'd said had wounded her, but she wiped the emotion off her face.

"Seven o'clock?"

Rin nodded.

Daphne set her toothbrush down. "I'll make sure I'm back before then."

* * *

Every Saturday, True Cross Academy set aside one of its practice gyms for Daphne. She didn't always use it, but the reservation carried over all the same. Her pace to the school was leisurely. She didn't want to overexert herself.

Upon arrival, she secured her bag in one of the lockers and made her way to the gym. She stretched, taking her time. Maybe she would tell Rin tonight—tell everyone tonight. Shiemi's garden would make an ideal setting, and if the night was going to be as big as Yukio had made it sound, it would be a perfect occasion. Daphne couldn't sit on the knowledge anymore. She'd nearly let it slip this morning when she'd been looking at Rin's tail and suddenly realized that their child would be a quarter demon and likely have a tail itself.

She let out a long, trembling breath. The thought of bringing a child into the world was scary enough on its own, but thinking of the lifestyle she and Rin led, the sheer _danger_ of it all. Putting a baby into a situation like that…it terrified her.

Daphne drew Castor and Pollux. Securing the blades to her palms, she opened her hands and let them stick. Without the immediate threat of Morpheus, she'd been able to take it easy with her blade bonding students over the last two years. Now that this new demon was on the scene, that might change. Rin had long ago bonded Kurikara, though he'd never really figured out any of the blade bonding techniques.

She touched Castor's blade to the floor of the gym and secured it. Then she tipped forward to go into her usual handstand, but she couldn't hold it long because being upside down made her dizzy. Releasing the bond on her blades, she flung both of them toward the wall and recalled them. Then she did it again. And again. And again.

Daphne practiced with her blades, trying to bury her panic under activity, ignoring the ghostly visions of her old squad, of her mother, of coltars and semicapers and Morpheus as they gathered in the corners of the room.


	22. Chapter 22

Rin couldn't help stealing another glance at Daphne as the two of them headed up the steps to Sheimi's garden gate. She'd been jittery since she'd come home from the gym and he wanted to check up on her, but she also looked really damn pretty. Shiemi had insisted everyone look nice, and the trade-off of Daphne in a dress was enough to make wearing a tie worth it.

Daphne caught Rin looking and laughed. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

She eyed him intently, but let the subject drop. A nervous breath entered her lungs as she reached the gate, and she released it as she held it open for him. Hopefully the party would do them both good.

They followed a path through the plants marked by little lanterns to the koi pond, which was decked out even beyond Yukio's description. Shiemi had floated several hundred tea light candles on the water, and strung up row after row of twinkle lights like a pergola over the lawn space next to the pond. The table was set with candelabras and flowers and way too many plates and pieces of silverware. She'd draped it and the chairs with floral cloth and ribbons. She had even coaxed a few Greenmen into the garden beds to grow fresh plants in various shapes. Shiemi herself was next to the table, standing on her tip-toes to light the last of the candles.

"Oh!" she cried, her face lighting up when she noticed Rin and Daphne arrive. "You're right on time. Welcome!" Hurrying over, Shiemi flushed and offered a bow.

"This is beautiful, Shiemi," Daphne said. "Thank you."

Shiemi's blush deepened. "Sit down, sit down," she said and ushered them over. "Yukio's just finishing the appetizer. Do you want anything to drink?"

"Tea?" Daphne asked.

"Of course. Rin?"

"Oh, um, tea's great." He'd been admiring the way Daphne looked in the sunset under the twinkle lights.

Nodding, Shiemi took off and passed Yukio as he stepped onto the lawn with a tray of vegetable tempura. She said something to him that intensified his scowl. Rin chuckled. Yukio was always put out in one way or another. He set the tray on the table.

"Having a relaxing evening?" Rin asked.

Yukio glared at him. "The two of you better have come hungry."

"Rin's always hungry," Daphne replied.

"I've been cooking since noon."

"Yukio!"

Shiemi hollered from the house and Yukio's face twisted up like he was going to explode. Chuckling, Daphne got to her feet.

"I'll go."

"No, Daphne…"

She waved him off. "Sit down. Eat some vegetables with your brother. I'll be fine."

Yukio let out a deep sigh. "Thank you," he said and flopped into the chair next to Rin's, but as Daphne walked away, she froze suddenly, her sight catching on something in the bushes. A beat, then she shook her head and kept moving, moving swiftly toward the house. Yukio had picked up a piece of tempura, but he'd paused with it hovering over the bowl of dipping sauce.

" _Is_ she fine?" he asked.

Rin hesitated. Mephisto hadn't given the okay to bring anybody else in on the demon situation, but Mephisto was also absent. Also, this was Yukio—one of the best and most trusted exorcists in the Knights of the True Cross, not to mention Rin's own brother. Now that he thought about it, Rin wondered if maybe that spirit would be able to possess Yukio as well, given that they had the same blood and all. If that was the case, he deserved to know.

"Do you remember that weekend Mephisto had Daphne and I extend our stay in Hiroshima?" he asked.

Yukio dipped his tempura and took a bite. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Rin filled him in, though he wasn't unnecessarily detailed, in case Mephisto found out and decided to get after him for it. He gave Yukio the basics. Yukio sat and listened to the whole thing with a frown on his face.

"Daphne got her temptaint from coltars, didn't she?" he asked.

Rin opened his mouth to respond, but Shiemi and Daphne appeared then, Daphne carrying a tray with a teapot and cups and saucers, Shiemi loaded down with cushions for their seats. They got up and sat down and got up to pour tea and sat down to drink it and got up to go get the next course and sat down and got up basically for the rest of the night. It was kind of hilarious to watch the progression of Yukio's wearied looks each time Shiemi sent him into the house for something. It seemed to lighten even Daphne's spirits. By the end of the evening, her smiles had become genuine.

"Oh! I just remembered!" Shiemi said, sitting up in her seat. "I bought this great wine to go with dessert."

Yukio put his face in his hands. "We finished dessert twenty minutes ago."

"I know, but I don't want it to go to waste." Shiemi was already standing and heading toward the house. "You want wine, don't you, Rin? Daphne?"

Daphne took a deep breath. "Actually—"

No sooner had Daphne cut herself off than one of the garden beds exploded in a shower of dirt. Shiemi shrieked and Daphne dove to cover her. The ground shook as an enormous Greenman pulled itself up to full height, clawing its way out of the exploded bed. Something was off about it—it didn't look like any Greenman Rin had ever seen, made up of veiny, twisting roots. It looked…dead somehow. Rin's heart stopped.

That was her. The spirit was inside that Greenman. He hadn't even felt her coming. A cold and dreadful chill spread throughout his body. Had they only been able to sense her before because she had _wanted_ them to?

The Greenman let out a terrible roar.

"What on _earth?_ " Shiemi gasped, pushing dirt and hair out of her eyes as she and Daphne helped each other to stand. The Greenman had to have been at least fifteen feet tall and it was struggling to free its feet from the ground. Shiemi took a step toward it, but Daphne pulled her back.

"Don't," was all she said.

Her eyes flicked toward Rin and he realized he hadn't brought Kurikara with him. It was _supposed_ to have been a garden party. He was about to curse when, inexplicably, Daphne drew his blade from the blue flame tattoo over her heart. She tossed the sword to him. Stunned, he only just managed to catch it.

"Sometimes it pays to be paranoid," Daphne said.

The other Greenmen that had been in the garden came scurrying and squeaking to Shiemi, Nee among them, as the possessed one pulled and roared. It must have been under the garden for ages to be embedded so deeply and grown so large. Shiemi glanced between Rin and Daphne.

"Should we help it?" she asked.

"It's hostile," Yukio told her. "My guns are inside."

Daphne nodded at him. Rin hadn't even seen her draw Castor and Pollux, but there the swords were in her hands. "We'll cover you."

Yukio took off and Shiemi herded her Greenmen away from the lawn, except for Nee who held his ground and started to grow, doubling his size a few times over. Daphne leveled her blades at the possessed Greenman, flexing her hands around the grips. Christ, she looked…she looked like she was about ready to snap.

"We can't hesitate this time, Rin," she growled.

"What's going on?" Shiemi asked, returning and taking a place beside Nee. "What's wrong with that Greenman?"

"It's possessed," Daphne answered. "Long story."

Shiemi's face went pale. " _Possessed?_ "

With a burst of dirt, the Greeman freed one of its feet and took a heavy step toward the four of them to get new leverage to pull the other out. Yukio returned, shoving a full clip into his handgun.

"What's the battle plan, you two?" he asked as he drew a bead on the Greenman.

"We need to exorcise it as quickly as possible," Daphne replied. "I don't care how."

"You can't hurt it!" Shiemi cried. "If it's possessed, that's not its fault!"

"Shiemi, I don't know if it's possible _not_ to hurt it," Rin said, looking at her regretfully. She opened her mouth to protest again, but the Greenman loosed its second foot and let out a triumphant roar. Yukio shot a couple rounds into its open mouth. It bellowed and started moving toward him.

"We should have attacked while it was restrained," he grumbled.

"Lead it away from the house!" Daphne shouted, already running toward the garden gate. Yukio released a couple more rounds as he followed. Shiemi was so busy worrying about the affected Greenman that Rin had to grab her wrist and drag her along behind him.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" she asked.

Rin shook his head. "No."

The prospect was frightening if the spirit ever got hold of _him_ , but he shoved it down under a determination to exorcise the damn thing before it got the chance. The Greenman followed their trail, taking quick, crashing steps that made the ground rumble with every footfall. After a matter of moments, the group of them arrived at the beginning of the bridge that linked Shiemi's family shop with the tower to reach it.

"We need to get behind it, control both exits," Yukio said.

"Done," Daphne replied, dashing to the side and ducking just shy of the Greenman's enormous arms.

"Nee, can you make some vines, please?" Shiemi asked.

"We don't need to restrain it, we need to _exorcise_ it!" Daphne called from the other side of the Greenman, drawing its attention until Yukio shot it in the head again. With a hiss, the thing bent down and tried to sweep the three of them and Nee off the bridge, but they dodged.

"We should at least _try_ ," Shiemi replied and gave a nod to Nee who started sprouting vines from the ends of his arms.

The possessed Greenman advanced, pushing Rin and Yukio and Shiemi further onto the bridge. Daphne's boomerang blade appeared above its head, spinning and missing entirely. Daphne cursed.

"See if you can get close to it, Rin," Yukio said as he took measured backwards steps. "Kurikara might cut those roots."

Nodding, Rin drew his blade. Yukio loaded a second handgun and fired both in rapid succession to give Rin a distraction. He dashed forward and ducked like Daphne had to slide, moving alongside one of its legs and bringing Kurikara up to cut its ankles as he did. The sword slid through the Greenman's body like it was made of butter. The demon let out a cry.

 _Why do you reject me?_

Rin did not reply.

 _Why do you not answer?_

"Rin! Daphne! Go for the legs at the same time!"

Rin glanced at his wife and she nodded, so forward they went under cover of Yukio's fire. The Greenman reeled at the onslaught of bullets, lashing out with its arms. Rin only just managed to duck the one on his side and cut through more of the roots on his way. The Greenman's other arm, however, connected completely with Daphne, hitting her in the gut and throwing her backwards. She rolled a couple of feet, and lay still, but pulled herself up after a second.

"God _damnit!_ " she shouted.

"You all right, Daph?"

" _Just kill it!_ " she screamed.

Her arms were trembling and she started to glance all around her, her eyes focusing on something that Rin either could not see or was not there. _Shit_. Daphne tried to shake it off, focusing all of her attention on the possessed Greenman. Gritting her teeth, she lifted both of her blades and _charged_.

Shiemi cried, "Wait!" Daphne hesitated, and in that split second, the possessed Greenman wrapped its root fingers around her throat. Nee's vines shot out and entangled the Greenman, stopping it from lifting Daphne much higher than a foot or two. She sliced her blades through its arm and freed herself, gasping as she fell to the ground.

"Enough's enough," Yukio said.

He unleashed a barrage of bullets and the Greenman's heart emerged. The second it was visible, Yukio shot it and the creature let out a death cry, stumbling back and tipping over and turning to dust as it fell.

 _Why do you reject me?_

Rin shivered at the voice in his mind, momentarily sensing the spirit as she abandoned her borrowed body and disappeared.

The dust from the Greenman landed on Daphne who was just…kneeling there, staring at the ground. Slowly her head tipped back. Her mouth opened. She shredded her throat with her voice, making a sound like damnation itself. Rin had never heard anything like that in all his life—it made even the Greenman's cries seem like nothing—and it was coming out of his wife. Shiemi ran for her.

"Daphne! Daphne, oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I didn't know that would happen, oh my goodness are you all right?"

She reached a hand toward Daphne's shoulder, but Daphne stood and whirled on her like a storm, slapping her away. The force actually sent Shiemi stumbling back a bit—her eyes wide with shock.

" _I told you we had to exorcise it!_ " Daphne screamed, tears rising and pouring down her face.

"I was trying to help," Shiemi replied, surprised and hurt and scared.

Daphne could only howl in response, her entire body trembling, her hands reaching up and making knots in her hair. Tears streaked her face, cutting lines in the dust. Hiccups of sobs interrupted her; she began to pace.

Helpless, Shiemi looked back at Rin and Yukio, but Rin was already on his way.

"Daph, hey. Daph…"

He reached for her as Shiemi had, but Daphne turned on him as well.

" _Don't touch me!_ "

She shoved him away, fighting down sobs in her throat. When Rin looked into her eyes, he saw those familiar demons—the ones she kept locked away in her mind. The source of her nightmares, her anxiety. He'd told her not to give into their influence, but she couldn't exactly control that, and so she'd hidden how bad it had gotten and that had made it worse. In a blink, she fled from them, stumbling over the uneven paving, dropping her blades and pulling Helen of Troy from her neck as well. She let all three clatter to the ground.

A breeze whistled across the top of the bridge, ruffled the grass growing around the steps up to the shop and the garden.

"I'm so sorry, Rin," Shiemi whispered. She clutched her elbow in her opposite hand, hung her head, and focused on her feet.

"I—" Rin didn't know what to say. "It's not your fault. I'm…I'm gonna go find her. Can you two call this in to report?" They might have killed the Greenman, but their spirit had slipped away.

Shiemi nodded. "Of course, Rin."

He left it at that, taking off at a brisk trot in the direction Daphne had gone—toward the back of the house—picking up her blades as he passed them. He found her on the back porch, her face in her hands—collapsed against the railing, sobbing in agony. His heart twisted. She didn't seem to notice when he sat down on the steps beside her, pulled her off the railing, and wrapped her in his arms. She just continued to wail, writhing, gasping for air like she was suffocating under her memories.

"Daphne…Daphne…breathe. Please, breathe."

He didn't know if she heard him. She shook, her whole body filled with tremors that turned her back and forth. Her cries were uncontrollable, though she struggled for control. It was like she was dying inside. Words formed out of her anguish.

"I don't want to be an exorcist anymore," she sobbed. "I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to." Her white-knuckled hands gripped his shirt. "I don't want to see demons anymore, I don't want to, I can't—I can't—" She gasped like a fish out of water. "I can't…I can't…"

Painful tears brimmed in Rin's eyes as he clutched her to him tightly. "I love you, Daphne," he whispered, his voice sticking. "I love you so much."

He could do nothing then but hold her as she sobbed, rocking her back and forth and kissing her head and murmuring words like he would to a child. She held onto him, gripping the cloth of his dress shirt so tightly the blood drained from her hands. It took several minutes for her to calm, and even when she did, her rest was uneasy.

Shivering, she sat up on what strength she had and wiped her nose on her wrist, little sobs still escaping her lips.

"Are you ready to go home?"

She nodded, wiping her eyes.

"Hey." He caught her chin in his hand and made her look at him. "I love you."

"I know," she sniffed. "I love you, too."

He hugged her, and she hugged him, taking in a breath and letting it out as a shaky sigh. She trembled still, but pulled away first. He brushed her tear-soaked and dirty hair out of her face.

"Do you want me to carry your blades?"

She nodded.

"Okay."

He continued arranging her hair, pulling it off her neck where it stuck with sweat, moving it over her shoulder where it would be out of the way. Once he was sure she could sit up on her own, he stood and sheathed Castor, Pollux, and Helen of Troy in his back. They hurt going in and felt like ice, but he shook it off and helped Daphne to her feet.

"I n-need to apologize to Shiemi."

"Not tonight. Let's just get home and go to bed."

Daphne nodded, swallowing, too weak to reply with words. She stared at the ground with blank and glassy eyes.

It didn't seem likely she'd be able to sleep.


	23. Chapter 23

At home, Rin got Daphne into the shower and put water in the kettle for tea before he called Yukio to let him know everything was all right. Well, it was hardly all right, but there wasn't anything anybody could do about it.

"Hey," he said and sighed when Yukio picked up, his throat tight again.

"How is she?"

"Not good."

A pause.

"I'm sorry, Rin."

Rin rubbed his forehead. The water in the kettle began to bubble.

"Is there anything we can do?" Yukio continued. "Do you need someone to come over?"

"No—no, I think it would be better for us to be alone. She's—" Rin took a breath. "That would be better."

"All right."

"I don't know if she'll want to go in to work tomorrow or not, but could you remind me to call the school? And will you tell Shura? And Mephisto, if you can get a hold of him. Just…just let them know what happened?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Of course, Rin."

"Oh, and will you tell Shiemi that Daph wanted to apologize?"

"There's nothing to—"

"I know. Just. Tell her. Please."

"…I will."

The water in the kettle boiled, whistling through the spout. Upstairs, the water to the shower shut off.

"We'll bring dinner tomorrow," Yukio said.

"That would be good."

Rin massaged the bridge of his nose. There was an aching there that wouldn't go away. He couldn't help feeling like this was his fault. If he had had his own shit under control, he wouldn't have felt the need to tell Daphne to keep it together. She would have talked to him. They wouldn't be as bad off. But there wasn't any point in wishing away the past.

"You should get some rest, too," Yukio said.

Rin sighed. "I'll try."

"Call if you need us."

"I will. Thanks, Yukio. Good night."

"Good night."

Rin hung up then braced himself to go upstairs. He met Daphne in their bedroom in her pajamas, toweling off her hair. She didn't say anything. Neither did he. Daphne climbed into bed. Rin tucked her in, turned off the light, and left the door a little open when he departed.

Down in the kitchen he sat up for the next few hours, trying to compile a list of people to contact to get help for Daphne. Father Michael was the only _name_ on the list, the others vague abstractions like "doctor" and "psychologist." The clock ticked above the stove. Rin stared at the mostly empty paper. He started to drift off.

"Rin?"

And when he didn't respond immediately:

" _RIN!_ "

Like a bolt, he flew up the stairs, down the hall, and threw open the bedroom door when he reached it, his heart beating in his ears. Daphne was sitting up in bed, the sheets thrown back away from her in a heap, and she looked over at him, her face a mask of horror. Her chest began to rise and fall, rise and fall, picking up speed. She was going to hyperventilate.

He hurried over, about to ask what happened, but getting only the beginning of a "what" out before he noticed the blood on her hands. There was a little blood on the sheets as well between Daphne's legs.

She saw his face and started to try to explain. "Rin, I—I…Rin, I, I don't know. I—I am—I was pregnant. I didn't tell you because I was scared, but I was going to soon, and I-I think…I think I just…lost…"

Rin's heart beat once and it turned his blood to ice.

As he stood and stared, she broke down, sobbing all over again. That blow she'd taken from the possessed Greenman. Right to the stomach. It had sent her flying. She—he… A few minutes ago, he'd been months away from being a father. Now… How was he supposed to process that? Daphne didn't take his silence well.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry," she sobbed, covering her face in her hands.

And that was the last thing she said for a while. He stood her up and she bled a little more through her pajamas and onto her legs, so he walked her to the bathroom and set her down on the floor beside the sink before turning the shower on. He left her there and went back to their room, stared at the blood on the bed, then stripped the sheets and carried them to the laundry room. When he went back to the bathroom, Daphne wasn't in the shower.

She wouldn't get off the floor. She just sat there, leaned against the cabinet, sobbing. Steam had filled the room. Rin knelt in front of her, his hands on her knees. She'd bled onto the rug.

"You need to get in the shower, Daph."

She didn't answer him.

"Please get in the shower."

"She wouldn't but he didn't know how else to clean her up.

"Can I help you?"

She didn't respond, but he did anyways, standing her up and undressing her and helping her into the shower. She sat in the bottom of the tub, her head bent back along the rim and sobbed like that until he left to take her pajamas and the rug to the laundry as well.

He listened to her cry while he rinsed everything in cold water, working to get the blood out as best he could before loading the washing machine. Once they were in and the cycle started, Rin put his elbows on top of the machine, leaned his face into his hands, and wept.

What had they done to deserve this?

He made sure he was stable and not red around the eyes before going back up to the bathroom. Daphne was still lying in the bottom of the tub, but her sobs had quieted and she rested with her eyes closed. She opened them when he came in.

"Are you ready for a towel?" he asked softly.

She nodded and he brought her one, turning off the water as well. As he watched the last of it drain, the liquid turned, ever so slightly, and made the shape of a five-pointed star.

He didn't say anything to Daphne, just went to retrieve a fresh pair of pajamas for her. He left her to dress and returned to their room to make the bed. By the time he finished, she was standing in the door behind him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

He flew to hug her. "No."

She tightened her arms around his back. She hadn't told him, but he wasn't angry. How could he be? What right did he have? She had to know he wasn't angry, so he stroked her hair and held her snug.

"Can you sleep?" he asked.

"I don't think so, but will you stay with me?"

He nodded and she slipped away to climb into their now poorly-made bed where she curled up into a ball. Rin put on his pajamas. He hadn't even taken off his tie when they'd come home. Daphne wrapped herself around him when he got in beside her, tucking her head under his chin against his throat. Her breath passed across his skin. Her tears rolled from her eyes down his neck. He held onto her.

Neither of them slept that night.


	24. Chapter 24

Daphne was…empty. She had reached the threshold for distress and had maintained so many negative emotions for so long, she could no longer feel anything—too tired to be anything but tired. She wouldn't have expected a miscarriage to gut her the way that it had. But it had. She was _gutted_. Circumstances had taken her insides and yanked them out, spread them across the floor for her to look at while she died slowly. Well, she wasn't dying. But it felt like it.

Rin hadn't said much, but he didn't need to. He'd been shocked and hurt and gutted, too. So the two of them lay together, figuratively bleeding out. The sun came up. The blinds kept their room in shadow.

"Are we supposed to go to the hospital?" Rin asked.

The question made the tears rise in Daphne's eyes all over again. Rin heard the hitch in her breath and pulled her closer.

"I don't know," she replied.

They didn't move for an hour. When they did, they were slow. Both of them dressed in silence and put on their shoes and jackets to go outside. Daphne linked her arm with Rin's and leaned on him through the walk to the train station and the ride on the train. At the hospital, they walked to the women's wing and Rin described the situation to the nurse behind the desk, who readily agreed to fit them in for an emergency appointment. She handed Rin a clipboard with all of the paperwork and gestured to a seating area where they could fill it out. Daphne sat and stared at all the other mothers who were waiting for their appointments. Underneath all her emptiness, a sharp spark of envy ignited.

The doctor took ages, and after several tests and examinations, she told them what they already knew, told them to come back if the bleeding was severe or the pain intense, gave them a few information pamphlets and sent them on their way. Back at home, Daphne went upstairs and sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her hands.

She hadn't planned this pregnancy. Frankly, she'd been terrified of it. So why did she feel absolutely devastated?

Rin made a couple phone calls and excused both of them from work. How long would that last? How long was the employer-allotted time for grief? He made tea and brought it up to the bedroom and handed her a mug. Daphne held it until the liquid went cold.

"Yukio and Shiemi want to bring dinner over tonight. Is that okay?"

She didn't look at Rin as she nodded. Would she be able to eat? Her stomach had tied into a thousand knots. She felt the mug leave her hands, but it didn't really register that Rin had taken it and set it on the bedside table. The two of them laid down again and put their arms around each other and were quiet. Daphne wanted to cry, but she didn't have any tears left.

For dinner, Shiemi and Yukio brought homemade curry and rice. Daphne ate very little, though she did manage some. Neither she nor Rin mentioned the miscarriage to them. Shiemi was upset enough as it was, apparently feeling responsible for Daphne's breakdown. She wasn't, and Daphne assured her of that, but only once, though Shiemi went on and on. Daphne wasn't in the mood to console anyone. Not right now.

Curiously, maybe a symptom of her exhaustion, her flashbacks and hallucinations had quieted entirely. They were still there—the faces of her dead teammates lurking in the corner—but they no longer caused her distress. She simply acknowledged and then ignored them.

That night, after Yukio and Shiemi had gone home, Daphne found Rin crying over the bathroom sink. He jumped when he noticed her and wiped his face off in a hurry, snot all over his hands.

"Sorry." His jaw trembled.

Daphne shook her head. "You don't have to be strong," she said.

He buckled, coming forward so she could put her arms around him and he could rest his forehead on her shoulder and let out a few little sobs.

"It's just—it's so sad," he said, still crying. "I didn't—I didn't even know… So why does it hurt so much?"

Daphne cradled his head in her hands as a few tears of her own spilled over. "I don't know, Rin," she whispered. "I don't know."

They spent the next several days in a stupor. Daphne knew she should have been worried about their demon, but she couldn't find it in her to care. Their manifestation tag went dead again, which came as no surprise. Rin was certain the thing hadn't been killed along with the Greenman. Daphne was inclined to believe him. What that would mean for the future, she couldn't possibly fathom, nor did she _want_ to think about it. Neither of them felt quite recovered by the time Monday rolled around, but they'd used all their vacation days and spent far too much time away from the Academy as it was.

So they went back to work. It helped a little—having something to do, something to think about, problems to solve and students to teach. At the end of the day, Shura appeared in the door to Daphne's classroom, ready to give her hell about being away, but one look at the expression Daphne wore on her face and Shura dropped the jab immediately.

"Christ, what _happened?_ " she asked, coming in.

Daphne told her. Frank, cold, and matter-of-fact.

Shura just stared. "Shit," she said after a moment. "I'm so sorry. Had you guys been trying for kids?"

Daphne shook her head. "No. No, we hadn't, but knowing that hasn't helped."

Frowning, Shura put a friendly hand on Daphne's shoulder and squeezed. "You wanna go out? Get drunk? Get your mind off things?"

"Not yet," Daphne replied and smiled a little in spite of everything. "But thanks."

"You let me know," Shura said and pointed a finger into Daphne's face. "Drinks on me, all night, as much as you want."

Daphne told Rin about Shura's offer that night before bed. He seemed cheerier for having spent the day out of the house, and even laughed at the news. A solemn expression replaced it shortly after, however, and he turned around to give his full attention to Daphne who sat on their bed behind him.

"Did you mean what you said?" he asked. "About not wanting to be an exorcist anymore? Not wanting to see demons?"

Daphne looked at him. "Yes."

Rin nodded, swallowing. He turned his face away.

"You feel that way sometimes, too, don't you?"

He drew in a shaking breath and let it out slowly. "I mean, yeah, of course I do…"

"Just because you can't change anything doesn't mean you can't feel that way." Reaching over, she put her hand on his arm. "And it doesn't mean you'll feel that way all the time. It's just easier to fantasize about the way my life could have been when the one I'm living sucks, but even if things had been different, that doesn't mean my life would be _better_."

His eyes were fixed on the floor, his shoulders tense. She rested her head against his back.

"All things considered, Rin, all the hell we've put each other through, all the shit we've fought together… I wouldn't take any of that back. Not if it was going to change what we have."

He nodded, though the words didn't seem to comfort either of them. After a moment of silence, he sat up and turned around to look at her. "I guess…I guess bringing a kid into this would have been…reckless."

"I don't know," Daphne replied. "We haven't ever talked about it."

How was that possible? Married two years, together another beyond that. The topic had never come up. Maybe because both of them knew the kind of insanity it would have been to even consider it. The subject of kids was not necessarily awkward or uncomfortable, simply off-limits given the circumstances. But now, well, they'd been _forced_ to consider it.

"What do you think?" Rin asked.

"I…"

What _did_ she think? She knew what she felt. But what she felt was madness, and her brain knew it, but her heart and her spirit didn't care. Poor, helpless kids were born into the world every day, kids who got temptaints and didn't have parents who understood—parents who thought they were crazy and told them to shut up and made them feel broken. The world was what it was and that didn't stop anyone else from having children. At least Rin and Daphne would be able to give a kid a fighting chance. Granted, that kid would see so much more fighting just for being their kid. It was a paradox.

The way this unexpected pregnancy had ended had tipped the scales just enough, however.

"I think I want them," she said, and the words hurt coming out but that didn't make them less true. "I think I want to have a baby. I want to try."

The tears that immediately flooded Rin's eyes made her sure that that was what he'd been hoping she'd say. He couldn't hold them in for long, though, and started sort of laughing and crying at the same time.

"Me too," he said. "Is that stupid?"

Daphne nodded. "Probably."

He laughed and cried a little more and they wrapped their arms around each other. Maybe the conversation wouldn't go anywhere. Maybe it was just a way to ease the grief and pain and fear they both were feeling. Maybe that demon would come back more powerful than ever and hurt them even more. A child was certainly a way to expose a weak point, to give an enemy leverage, but that was too rational a lens to put on a subject so dominated by emotion. Especially the emotions of a pair like herself and Rin.

"We'll have to wait," Daphne said into Rin's shoulder. "Just a little while. So we can both recover."

"What about that demon?"

"If it's not that demon, it's going to be another one," Daphne replied. "If we wait until the coast is clear, we'll be waiting until the end of the world."

Sighing, Rin shook his head. "I wish you weren't right."

"I wish a lot of things," Daphne said, leaning back so she could give him a kiss. "But it's better to work than to wish."

He smiled at her. "You really want to have a baby, too?"

Daphne nodded. "I do."

Holding her tight, Rin pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Then I can't wait to get to work."

* * *

Though wounded, Spirit was far from submission. Her beings had rejected her, and the pain it inflicted was something Spirit had never fathomed she could feel. The hurt made her angry, and her anger made her determined.

She would have them. They would be one.

She would take the power of every other demon in Gehenna and Assiah if that was what her goal required.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hi, friends! It's been a rough ride 'round these parts lately, but there are happy times on the horizon, I promise. To my gorgeous faithful readers, thank you, thank you! It means so much to me that you've stuck with me (and Rin and Daphne) over the last two (!) years. You're amazing, and I want you to know how much I appreciate you! If there is anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to let me know. I am but a message away!_

 _I hope you've enjoyed the update, and have a fabulous weekend! Much love._

 _~Phab_


	25. Chapter 25

Right away, Rin started reading up on baby planning and fertility and basically anything he could get his hands on related to procreation in even the tiniest way. Internet articles, books, manuals, podcasts. There was a surprising amount of baby-related media out there. He'd never noticed before.

"Apparently, it doesn't matter that _I'm_ a twin, it only matters if _you_ have the genes for it," he told Daphne over breakfast several days into his binge. "Crazy, right?"

"A relief, more like," Daphne replied. "I don't know what we'd do with two babies."

"The same thing you do with one," he said. "It's all about your cycle and how many eggs you release. More eggs, more likelihood."

She just smiled at him like she'd already known.

They gave themselves time. Time to balance, time to research. Time to really decide if they wanted to go through with trying, if they were honest. A month went by. Rin hardly noticed. Work went back to normal. Rin and Daphne talked nothing but baby. Nobody said anything about the demon, not even Mephisto, who still hadn't returned. The _demon_ didn't even say anything. It just kind of…disappeared. Rin barely had a thought to spare to even think of the situation as an odd one, though it did seem to weigh heavier on Daphne. She'd begun to recover from her breakdown and was taking things easy, feeling things out. The prospect of starting a family seemed to have helped her more than anything, so after another two weeks, they made an official decision.

They were going to try.

Daphne wanted to make sure they had the best and safest chances, so she changed her diet and started seeing a doctor and took a lot, probably too many, fertility pills. They both did. Anything and everything within their power. So a few weeks later, when Daphne came out of the bathroom and handed Rin a positive pregnancy test, they threw their arms around each other and laughed so hard they cried.

"This is crazy," Rin said, holding Daphne's face in his hands and kissing her. "We're gonna be parents."

Daphne could only shake her head and laugh in disbelief. "I know."

They went to work that day beaming, and the change of mood did not go unnoticed. Shura popped into the office she shared with Rin at lunch time and found him and Daphne in there, eating and talking and laughing.

"What's going on here?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rin offered her his bento. "Want some?"

Frowning, wary, Shura took a shrimp and put it in her mouth. "Thanks," she said, suspicious even as she chewed. "My offer for drinks still stands, you know?" It was clear she was fishing, but neither Rin nor Daphne minded.

"We know," Daphne said. "Why don't you get everybody together and we'll go tonight?"

The response was enough to satiate Shura momentarily. She nodded and let the topic drop, but eyeballed them through the rest of the lunch break. The attention only made Rin and Daphne laugh.

At the end of the regular school day, they received a call to go to Mephisto's office. It was the first time in weeks they had had contact with the demon king. He hadn't even returned to True Cross Academy until that afternoon, and he had been silent long before that—no summons, no ambiguous texts, no phone calls, nothing. When Rin and Daphne walked into the room, Mephisto looked up from his desk with an uncharacteristic solemnity.

"Miss Lux. Mr. Okumura."

He gestured at the chairs in front of his desk. After exchanging curious expressions, Rin and Daphne sat.

"I…apologize for my absence as of late," Mephisto said. "Though lengthy, it was unavoidable."

"It's been _months_ ," Daphne replied, but her voice was peppered with concern instead of scolding. "We've… We haven't really known what to do without your direction. The manifestation tag went dead, but we—"

Mephisto held up his hand to interrupt her. "I have been kept up to date on your proceedings. Including the encounter at Miss Moriyama's shop."

Swallowing, Daphne sat back. Mephisto regarded both of them in silence for a second. He looked like he was trying to decide what to tell them, or maybe _how_ to tell them. It was uncanny. Mephisto had always been cryptic, but never careful. He hadn't ever needed to be careful, always twenty steps ahead of everybody else. Rin couldn't remember a time he had ever seen the demon king worried, but—honest to god—he looked pretty damn worried then.

"Shortly after your coltar-based encounter with the demon in question, there were…riots in Gehenna."

Startled, Rin opened his mouth, but Mephisto put up his hand to silence him as he had Daphne.

"News of the spirit's escape was leaked," he continued, "and the authority of the demon kings was called into question. There are many, as you know, who challenge our right and ability to rule." He glanced between Rin and Daphne with an expression of solidarity, a hint at their shared memories of Morpheus and his faction. "Azazel has long kept the spirit under guard, and though her existence was widely unknown, every demon has been made aware now, and they are reasonably fearful."

He paused, but Rin and Daphne stayed quiet.

"It has been determined that it was indeed the augmented summoning spells developed by Director Akiyama and her research team that released the spirit from her bonds. The same spells, unfortunately, have also increased her power. With each demon she possesses, she grows more powerful still."

Daphne shifted. "You're certain of this?"

"She tried to possess Astaroth and nearly succeeded."

Every ounce of blood in Rin's body ran cold. Astaroth was the lowest demon king, sure, but _holy shit_ he was still a _demon king_. And he'd been thinking things in Assiah looked bad. He could hardly blame Mephisto for his extended absence now.

"How nearly is 'nearly'?" Daphne asked, shivering.

"She sustained complete control of his body and power for a full fifteen seconds," Mephisto replied, grim. "And while Astaroth insists that he wrested control back from her, I have my own suspicions."

"Which are?"

"It was a test."

Mephisto looked to Rin. Apprehension flickered in the demon king's eyes—fear, almost. While they were only half-brothers, and Rin wanted to tell Mephisto to shove his head up his ass most of the time, they did share a bond—at the very least, a connection to Gehenna. What was trouble for Mephisto was trouble for Rin, and vice versa. They did, after all, have the same demon blood.

And that blood demanded unanimity between them. If the spirit was testing, it was certain she would come after a different king next.

"Given the nature of the attack, I've elected to remove the two of you from the case as it stands in Assiah. Any undue exposure to the spirit could be dangerous, to say the least. The less you encounter her, the better."

Swallowing, Rin nodded. She'd already tried to possess him once. Now she'd tried and _succeeded_ with Astaroth. If she continued to gain power, there was no telling what would happen if their paths crossed again.

"I am also bringing Director Akiyama to our offices to conduct further studies on the nature of the demon. As it was her spells that broke the spirit out, she holds the best chance we have at binding it once more. She may require your cooperation in her studies. Is that acceptable to you?"

It was rare for Mephisto to ask permission, and rarer _still_ for him to be so forward about his plans. Most of the time he just left his pawns to stumble around in the dark while he called the shots, but things had changed. Transparency had suddenly become more important than his games. This was serious.

Rin nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, we'll do whatever we can."

Mephisto looked to Daphne. "Miss Lux?"

Daphne was pale, her eyes blank. Her hand flexed unconsciously over her abdomen. After a second, she nodded, too.

"Whatever we can," she agreed.

They left Mephisto's office under a cloud of nebulous concern. They had cram school lessons to teach the exwires, but neither of them got very far down the hallway. Daphne came to a complete halt and Rin stopped beside her.

"What are you thinking, Daph?"

She shook her head, her fingers gripping her shirt so tightly over her belly that her knuckles turned white. "What if we made a mistake?"

Rin swallowed. "There's nothing we can do about it now."

"But, Rin—"

"It's like you said, Daph. If it's not this demon, it's going to be another one, and if we try to wait until the coast is clear, we'll be waiting for forever." The words just kind of spilled out of him, and kept coming. "We can't wait forever. We can't let this control us. Now is just as bad a time as any. The demons aren't going to go away."

" _Rin_ …" She lifted her eyes and she looked at him, so solemn it made him shut up. "What if the demon is _you?_ "

Those words _hurt_. More than a kick to the ribs, more than a sword through the heart, more than a snapped neck—but that didn't make their implication invalid. The truth of it was what hurt more than anything. When they'd decided to have a baby, circumstances had been bad, but they had been _different_. When they'd decided to have a baby, Astaroth hadn't been successfully possessed by the same spirit that had been pursuing them relentlessly since that weekend on Miyajima. The spirit that had tried to possess him. What if the demon _was_ him? What if that spirit took control? No—he couldn't even think about it. Thinking about it made him want to throw up, made his hands shake, made him want to punch a hole through a wall and then tear the whole thing down.

"Then we deal with it," he said through his teeth.

Daphne wrapped her arms around him and her arms were trembling. Her whole body was, and his was, too. They held onto each other, anxiously imagining everything that could go wrong.

"I can't do this without you," Daphne whispered.

He held her tighter. "I'm scared, too, Daph."

She leaned away to look into his eyes. She understood. She understood how much being a demon terrified him sometimes, how much he worried about hurting the people that he loved. She'd experienced it firsthand three years ago when she'd been the one on the receiving end—his flames burning that temptaint aura Morpheus had given her. She'd nearly died.

" _What do we do?_ " she asked.

Rin shook his head. "Whatever it takes."

Her jaw hardened and she bit the inside of her bottom lip. A little of that old army soldier that still lived in her somewhere flickered across her eyes. They were strong. And they were stronger together. He could only imagine that by adding a baby into the mix, they'd go beast mode trying to protect it. Whether that was a good or a bad thing remained to be seen. Daphne nodded once, curtly, and he nodded back.

Whatever it takes.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hi, hi! Just by way of update, I'll be going on holiday from Wednesday next week, so it's pretty likely that my usual "weekly" updates (I use the term loosely, haha!) will go out the window. I'll be traveling for about three weeks, but if I'm able to write, I will. Hang tight, everybody! And thank you, as always, for reading!_


	26. Chapter 26

Daphne had two students to whom she _actually_ taught blade bonding. The others—exwires and certified exorcists alike—received a modified version of the course, only they didn't know it. Daphne had her suspicions that even Mephisto didn't know it. And that was because Daphne was still the only person who truly understood what blade bonding required.

She stood silent for a moment in the center of a sparing mat in the gym where she was to meet Katsumi and Hiriko for their semi-private lesson after school. Daphne had been teaching them since the beginnings of blade bonding as it was known at True Cross Academy. They were progressing steadily, and always punctual, but she didn't notice them enter that afternoon. She was focused instead on feeling the energies flow between Assiah and Gehenna.

It was chaos.

Gehenna pulled _so hard_ on Assiah, but it felt like it was trying to move away, like it wanted to separate. The force was strong and demanding, and it made the energy in Assiah bend. Assiah felt about ready to snap. Daphne had never sensed the two in such diametric tension before. Not even when Morpheus had made a bid for rule.

But beyond all that, she sensed an energy she hadn't encountered before, one so small that she had to reach to grasp it—warm, like Rin's blue flame, and synced with her own. The first time she'd been pregnant she'd been too frightened to reach out and look for that other life, but now it was a comforting glow to soothe her own.

She only wished the forces between their two worlds were not also trying to tear each other apart.

"Okumura-sensei?"

Daphne's eyes snapped open and she found Hiriko and Katsume standing at the edge of the sparring mat. They both looked concerned at her heavy breathing and sweat-stained skin. Daphne offered them a weary smile.

"The energy is intense today," she said. "Take it easy. Don't push."

Together, the three of them moved through some warmups and then Daphne stepped aside to allow her students to seek out the spirits of their blades. A Knight with a demon sword ought to have the same relationship to their weapon as a Tamer to their familiar. A demon sword was a living thing in a way. Daphne had carried Castor, Pollux, and Helen of Troy since she was a child. They were part of her. She had long suspected that Katsume and Hiriko, who had also inherited their blades at a young age and hadn't yet been taught another technique, were the only ones who might follow in her footsteps and blade bond. Them and Rin. Nobody had a bond with a blade like he did, but he never showed up for lessons.

"When you feel you've connected, tap into the tension through your blade. Because it's strong, that will be easy, but it may overwhelm you, so tread lightly. See if you can attach the points of your blades to the mat."

She drew Castor and did exactly that, then detached it and looked at her students.

"Thirty reps," she said.

Hiriko and Katsume nodded, shutting their eyes and going to work. It was different for the both of them than it was for Daphne—Katsume's katana was a different shape than Daphne's swords and Hiriko's blade was nearly as long as she was, but they were both successful. Daphne watched the strain in their faces intently, ready to intervene if either of them tried to do too much.

"Am I interrupting?"

Daphne gasped at the sudden whisper in her ear, jolting to find Rin standing right behind her, looking sheepish. He grimaced, but it was half a smile.

"Sorry," he said.

"What are you doing?" Daphne asked. He'd changed his clothes. He was wearing _work out_ gear. Daphne raised an eyebrow.

"My exwires are in exams today," he said. "I figured I should come…you know."

Daphne drew in a sharp breath. Yes, she knew. _Whatever it takes._ If blade bonding was something that might help them in the long-run, then maybe Rin would try to learn it in earnest this time.

"Warm up and then I'll give you a task," Daphne said.

Nodding, Rin swung Kurikara from his back then raised his eyebrows to ask if it was okay for him to draw it. Daphne nodded. Katsume and Hiriko wouldn't even be paying attention for now. Rin removed the blade from its sheath, igniting the blue flame, and started a warmup series. Behind Daphne, her students finished their reps.

"Need a breather?" she asked.

Hiriko shook her head, but did reach for her water bottle. Katsume flexed his hand over the grip of his blade.

"It _is_ strong today, Okumura-sensei," he said, looking her way. "What happened?"

"I can't say," Daphne replied. "Focus on your practice. Thirty reps connecting the blade, then releasing it and recalling it to your hand." She demonstrated with Castor, holding her hand only an inch or so above the grip to recall it, then sheathed the sword. "Go."

They did, and Daphne turned back to Rin.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked him, and he shrugged.

"Shouldn't I start with the basics?"

"Let me see Kurikara."

Daphne extended her hand and Rin obligingly placed the sword in it. She gave Kurikara a couple of swings, then stood still, shut her eyes, and focused on the blade. She reached out to its spirit, and much to her surprise, Kurikara reached back.

In a flash of heat, Daphne connected with the blade. A coursing, wild, powerful energy swept through her body from the palm of her hand, and for an instant the world looked blue. When the moment passed, Daphne could feel Kurikara the same way she felt Castor and Pollux and Helen of Troy—but instead of her blades' cold and stoic energy, Kurikara was a spark of joyful warmth. The familiarity between that energy and Daphne surprised her.

"Woah," Rin said. "You okay? What happened?"

Daphne flexed her fingers around Kurikara's grip. "We bonded," she said.

"You _what?_ "

Even as Rin started to ask another question, Daphne took a swing with the blade. It moved swiftly, slicing through the air with the same speed and control she typically had with her own swords, control she had not had on those first practice swings. Touching Kurikara to the mat, Daphne felt for the energies and the tip of the blade connected like sliding through soft butter. She let go, and Kurikara stood on end. Just to see, she tried recalling the blade to her hand, and she wasn't surprised when it met her skin, but Rin was. He stood staring with his mouth wide open.

"You _bonded_ Kurikara," he gaped.

Daphne nodded. The blade tingled in her hand, a gentle vibration, almost like a limb that had fallen asleep.

"I've been carrying it in my seal a lot lately," she said. "And…" And now that she was connected to the blade, she could feel how that other little energy synced with hers had grown stronger. "I think the baby may have helped."

Daphne laughed. She hadn't meant to bond Kurikara, just get a feel for it, but here she was. Holding the blade out, she passed it back to Rin. He didn't take it for a moment because he was stuck staring at the shining surface, then her face. She laughed again when he shook his head.

"What?" she asked.

"I love you so much."

Daphne smiled. In spite of everything, she smiled. It amazed her still how Rin was able to do that—make her smile no matter how heavily the world weighed on both of them. He took Kurikara and Daphne caught his wrist as he started to move away. Pulling him forward, she touched a kiss to his cheek.

"I love you, too," she said, and felt the heat of Rin's blush on her own cheek. That amazed her, too. That she could still make him blush. She smiled when she leaned away from him.

"Try to connect Kurikara to the mat," she said.

"Thirty reps?" he asked.

Daphne laughed. "Why don't you just focus on one for now?"

Hiriko and Katsume were just finishing up their thirty reps recalling their blades across an inch, both of them sweating. The recall set had taken them nearly three times as long to complete.

"You two take a meditation break," Daphne said over her shoulder. "Excellent work."

"Thank you, sensei," they both said and bowed before sprawling on the ground in exhaustion. The expression on Rin's face had gone a little grim by the time Daphne turned back to him.

"Hard work," he said.

She nodded.

"And the whole…pushing your sword through your body thing? That's…?"

"A few years off."

"Yup. Yup, okay." He nodded, putting Kurikara's tip to the ground and taking a wide stance like he was prepared to stand in one place for a very long time. "Sounds good. I'll just, uh…do the connect-y thing for now."

Chuckling, Daphne adopted his stance and drew Castor, matched Kurikara's position with it.

"Close your eyes," she said. "And search for the energies between Gehenna and Assiah…"

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _I'm back! Hi, there. Glad to see you!_

 _I have a question for y'all. Are any of you dorks like me and have a song (or several) that makes them think of Rin and Daphne? I'm building a playlist that I want to share with you guys, and I want your input! If you have any suggestions, pop me a PM or leave a comment! I'll probably share the track list at the end of the next chapter, if that's something you guys are interested in at all, lol._


	27. Chapter 27

Ishinohana was packed with exorcists when Rin and Daphne arrived that night because Daphne had made the mistake of telling Shura to get "everyone together" and Shura was pretty much _everyone's_ drinking buddy. A big chorus went up when they walked through the door, and Shura herself was quick to find them, throw her arms around their shoulders, and lead them to a more private booth in the corner where Shiemi and Yukio were already seated.

"I'll get your drinks," she said and gave their shoulders a slap before sauntering off.

"She'll be awhile," Yukio grumbled as Rin slid into the booth next to him. "Took her thirty minutes to bring ours."

"It's not bad Shura has so many friends," Shiemi said. "She just got distracted is all." Shiemi offered a particular smile to Rin and Daphne once they were seated—one that was kind of sad and a little bit knowing. "How are you both?"

Rin looked to Daphne for a cue. Lately, Shiemi's over-sweetness had made Daphne pretty prickly, but she offered a genuine smile and nodded rather than going stiff.

"So much better," Daphne said.

Shiemi heaved a sigh of relief. Her eyes sparkled and she nodded eagerly. Those bright eyes flicked to Rin, a question in them if he felt the same as Daphne. Rin smiled. The world was going to shit, as usual, but he _did_ feel better then than he had in weeks. Circumstances were grim, sure, but his and Daphne's perspective on them had shifted.

"Yeah, good," he said, nodding, at which Shiemi heaved another sigh. "How are you guys?"

Shiemi was quick with a nod and a smile of her own. "We're good, too, aren't we, Yuki?"

Yukio let a slow breath out through his nose and drank from his glass in a way that suggested otherwise, but Shiemi continued, not noticing.

"The garden is all put back together," she said. "It took a while for a few of the plants to heal, but they're on the mend."

"We had to _buy_ dirt," Yukio said through his teeth. " _Dirt_. We paid money for _dirt_."

"Greenman left a big hole, huh?" Daphne said. Her words were peppered with a bit of a sting, just subtle enough to do the job but not dampen the atmosphere. It was a reminder that the Greenman had done damage in other areas, areas less fixable than a garden, but a reminder that let Shiemi and Yukio reach that conclusion on their own.

"Has Mephisto been giving _you_ guys hell?" Yukio asked, changing the subject.

Rin and Daphne exchanged expressions.

"Not really," Rin replied. "Why? Has he been after you?"

Yukio nodded, taking a long draw off his drink. "He's only been back for a _day_ and he's already initiated a bunch of new protocols. Had me running drills all afternoon."

"Even _I've_ been asked to develop new pharmaceuticals," Shiemi added. "He's got most of the high level exorcists working on one thing or another."

"He didn't give you two anything?" Yukio asked.

Daphne shook her head. "No."

Yukio pursed his lips, a question there, but Shura came back with a feast of drinks and food and dumped it all onto the table.

"Pretzels, for Daphne," she said, sliding a basket of soft pretzel sticks and a beer Daphne's way. "Chips and dip for the table." She pushed a massive plate of tortilla chips and like seven different dips into the middle. "Beer for all. And the rest of the food is yours, Rin."

A basket of onion rings, two servings of cheese fries, a French dip sandwich, and a plate of stuffed mushrooms arrived in front of him. Rin looked up at Shura, his stomach already rumbling.

"God bless you."

Shura laughed, plopping into the booth next to Daphne. "I know my boy," she said, pointing at him over the rim of her glass. She took a sip, then said, "Tuck in."

Yukio snatched a few cheese fries, so Rin squawked at him, which left his mushrooms defenseless against Shiemi. He pulled all the food closer to him to try and get his arms around the plates, but even then, Shura was able to grab a couple of onion rings.

"You _said_ these were for _me_ ," he complained, smacking Yukio's hand away when he went for more cheese fries.

"You can share your free food, Greedy," Shura replied. She glanced at Daphne who had claimed her pretzel sticks but not her beer, and frowned. "Wrong kind?" she asked, flicking her eyes to the drink.

Daphne sat up. "Oh. No. Actually…I'm not drinking."

Curious silence answered the statement on one hand, and on the other—Rin's—startled apprehension. They were going to do this _now?_ He swallowed his mouthful of cheese fries just as Daphne said, "I'm pregnant."

Stunned silence this time. Shura, Yukio, and Shiemi all stared at them, their mouths collectively hanging open. Then, like a rubber band snapping, the silence broke with three things at once—Yukio asking, "This is a good thing, right?", Shiemi clapping her hands together over her mouth and letting out a joyful squeal, and Shura straight-up bursting into messy tears and grabbing Daphne round the neck for a bone-crushing hug.

"Yes, it's a good thing," Daphne replied, laughing a little as she patted Shura's shoulder. "We planned it."

Yukio nodded. "Good." A smile crossed his mouth, and he looked to Rin. "Congratulations."

Rin returned the smile. "Thanks."

"A baby!" Shiemi cried. "Oh my goodness, I'm so excited!"

Shura just wailed into Daphne's ear. Then she started blubbering unintelligible phrases with a few sensible words here and there like "baby" and "happy." Watching Shura cry made Shiemi a little misty, and soon she was wiping away a few soft tears of her own, laughing at herself and the spectacle. It made them all chuckle, and Shura sat up to pull herself together, wiping snot from her face.

"W-when are you due?" she asked and then cleared her throat.

"We don't know," Daphne replied. "We haven't been to a doctor yet or anything."

"Will you let us know?" Shiemi said. "As soon as you do?"

A joyful pink took over Daphne's cheeks and she smiled the most beautiful smile Rin had ever seen on her face. She nodded at Shiemi.

"Of course. Going by rough estimate, the baby will probably arrive in March."

At that, Shura burst into tears all over again. She _wailed_ , her head tipped back and her face toward the ceiling, her mouth wide open and big, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. She wiped them away with sloppy hands that were still greasy from the onion rings. Then she grabbed Daphne in another too-powerful hug and bawled into her shoulder.

Daphne just laughed. She turned her face toward Rin and smiled—quiet, confident, calm. Then she mouthed the words, "I love you," and made a soft smile spread out on Rin's face as well. He nodded— _me too, but you—_ and reached for her hand. Shura sat up the next second.

"W-we gotta do shots," she blubbered, prompting a laugh from Yukio. "But not you, Daphne. Sorry." She got up from the table, blowing her nose into a napkin. "I'll get you a soda."

Squaring her shoulders, Shura left the table. The group chuckled as they watched her go. Shiemi reached over and took Daphne's other hand to grab her attention, her eyes twinkling.

"So are you hoping for a boy or a girl?"

* * *

Later, in the bathroom, Rin was washing his hands when the door opened and the music in the bar got louder for a second as Yukio came in. They nodded at each other, but Yukio didn't approach any of the stalls. He just stood and looked thoughtfully at the tile for a long time while Rin dried his hands.

"What's up?" Rin asked.

Yukio shook his head. He drew in a breath and let it out slow. Then he lifted his gaze from the floor to Rin.

"You're both crazy," he said with a smile.

Rin laughed. "I know."

Yukio held his gaze—serious in that way that only Yukio could be. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks."

Truth be told, Rin was still nervous. About a lot of things. For one, until they went to a doctor, they couldn't be sure if Daphne _was_ pregnant or if the test was a false positive. If that was the case, well, they'd just keep trying, and Shura could sob all over again when they were finally able to deliver real news. But if it _wasn't_ a false positive—if Daphne _was_ pregnant—that meant his life was about to change in a very big, very real, very _permanent_ way. And while it might have been a change he wanted, could he ever be certain of his ability to handle it?

"Nine months seems like a long time," Yukio mused, "but it'll be over before you know it."

Rin could only swallow and nod. His gaze flicked briefly to the floor until he felt Yukio's hand on his shoulder and he looked at his brother instead.

"For what it's worth, I…I think you'll make a great dad."

The words made Rin's throat cinch. A couple of tears welled up in his eyes and he smiled, laughing when they spilled over. Yukio laughed, too, giving Rin's shoulder a squeeze. Rin pulled him into a hug. They were hugging in a bathroom in a bar, and that was kind of weird, but Rin didn't care. He held onto his brother in one brief, sincere moment of affection.

" _Thank_ you," he said.

* * *

At home that night, Daphne tested her connection with Kurikara while Rin was in the shower. She couldn't believe how different the energy felt from Castor and Pollux and Helen of Troy. She practiced bonding her hand to the grip, and each time it connected the blade gave her a tiny, happy shock—almost like a greeting. A little hello. It made her smile.

"Hello to you, too," she said, keeping the sword bonded as she drew Pollux.

Raising both swords, Daphne took stock. Pollux was much heavier, better balanced, and more reserved. Kurikara felt like a wild spark in comparison. So much power in such a confined space. She wondered how much of that was Rin and how much of it was the blade's individual spirit. Sort of a chicken and egg question, she supposed. She and her swords had affected each other immeasurably over the years she'd carried them. They were different blades for her than they had been for the exorcists who had carried them before her down to the Puritans who had originally forged the metal. It was the same with Kurikara. The sword had existed independent of Rin for decades, but in sealing his demon heart, the two of them had become inexorably connected. What either of them would have been like without the other was a mystery. The same could be said of Daphne.

She hadn't heard the shower shut off, but suddenly Rin was standing in front of her in his pajamas, toweling off his hair around the blue flame.

"Can I see yours?" he asked, his eyes flicking from Kurikara to Pollux to her face.

Daphne flipped Pollux and bonded the blade to her hand in the air so that it came down in her palm with the grip extended to Rin. He started, but grinned, taking the sword in his hand.

"I ever tell you how sexy that is?" he asked as he weighed Pollux's balance.

Daphne laughed. "What? Blade bonding?"

Rin shrugged, shaking his head, mostly focused on the sword. "The whole shebang." He looked up to her and smiled. "I like having a wife who can kick some ass."

Grinning, Daphne touched Kurikara's edge to Pollux and slid it down the length of the blade, creating a long metallic _shing_ sound. "Oh yeah?"

Rin laughed again. "Yeah."

"You want the other one, too?" she asked, already reflexively switching Kurikara to her left hand so she could draw Castor and offer it to Rin. He took it, considering both blades carefully.

"I always forget how heavy they are," he said.

He'd used Pollux on occasion—when they'd been in a pinch—but neither of them had ever really trained with each other's swords. Back when they'd first met, back when Daphne had first moved to Japan, they'd sparred against each other almost constantly, trying to figure out the connection between Rin's flames and the aura she'd had as a temptaint from Morpheus. They'd developed such an intimate, innate knowledge of the other's fighting style over those tests that even though it technically _was_ bad practice to employ a married couple at the same office, and not only at the same office, but as partners a good portion of the time, nobody—not even among the elites—had ever been able to come up with a reason to oppose it. Now, thinking how connected she was to Rin, and Kurikara by extension, it surprised Daphne very little to have bonded the blade.

" _With healing balm my soul is filled_ ," Rin read, absolutely butchering the pronunciation on Castor's English inscription, then doing the same to Pollux. " _Every faithless murmur stilled._ " He looked at Daphne. "Puritan hymn, right?"

She nodded. "'All Praise to God who Reigns Above.' Not exactly a rousing anthem."

She chuckled, but Rin did not. He seemed to be focusing very deeply, regarding both swords with perfect solemnity. It took a beat, but Daphne realized what he was doing.

"Are you trying to bond them?" she laughed.

Rin gave her a hairy scowl. "Why is that funny?"

"That isn't how it works."

"You bonded Kurikara!"

"I've been practicing blade bonding for ten years," she replied. " _And_ I carry your blade in a seal. You can't just ask nicely and expect a demon sword to respond. And mine aren't as friendly as yours."

Rin frowned at Castor and Pollux. "Oh."

"What? I thought you liked having a wife who could kick some ass?"

"I _do_ , b—"

Daphne swung Kurikara and met Castor with a light blow that snapped Rin to attention. She swung again, and he parried the second hit, but the swords were different, and there were two, and he didn't know what to do with them, so Daphne found it easy to disarm him of Pollux and step into his range with a few more quick strikes. She smiled into his face, only inches away, Kurikara held at his throat.

"I could kick _your_ ass," she said.

"I wasn't ready!" Rin complained.

Laughing, Daphne stepped back and handed him Pollux. He took the sword cautiously like he was expecting her to pull it out of his reach.

"A few months from now, I might not be much use in an exorcism," she mused. "I'll have to brush up on my Aria meister."

She looked to Rin to smile, but found his face had gone serious. He hesitated over whatever he was about to say, so Daphne stayed quiet and gave him time, waiting. After a moment, Rin drew in a breath.

"We haven't…you know, been to a doctor," he said. "So we can't be sure, can we? That is wasn't a false positive?"

Daphne just smiled at him. He'd done so much reading, stuffed his brain full of so much information, that he was no longer relying on his instincts. She sheathed Kurikara, took Castor and Pollux from his hands and sheathed them as well. Then she stepped close, taking his face in her hands.

"No false positive," she said. She could _feel_ that life, small and fragile though it was. Its wavelength was distinct—a new, unique mix of Assiah and Gehenna. "Trust me."

Rin let his breath out through his nose. He shut his eyes, nodded, opened them again and smiled at her.

"Always," he said.

Daphne kissed him, then. Deep and gentle. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Somehow, she felt safe. Safe as they embraced, safe as they lay down beside each other, kissing still. She loved Rin so much it confused her sometimes. He was more than she could ask for and yet all that she deserved.

She couldn't wait to raise a family with him.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Look at me, being nice to my characters. Astounding!_

 _Anyways, as mentioned last week, I've knocked together a little playlist. Big, big thank you to everyone who contributed! It's, like, unbelievably fun to see what kind of impressions my work leaves with other people, so thank you! For reading and everything else._

 _I'm not sure how prickly FF is about links to outside websites, so I won't post one, but if you search "Rin + Daph" on YouTube, the playlist should be the first result. Here are the songs, in no particular order:_

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers

Void - The Neighbourhood

Can't Stop Lovin' You - Van Halen

Everything and More - Raindancer

You Just May Be the One - The Monkees

You Silly Git - Dan Mangan

You Make Loving Fun - Fleetwood Mac

White Shadows - Coldplay

Love of our Lives - Indigo Girls

Boy Blue - Cyndi Lauper

You Get Me So High - The Neighbourhood

She's a Rainbow - The Rolling Stones

 _Feel free to contribute more songs in comments or PMs if you want! Don't be shy! I'll add them to the YouTube playlist!_

 _Until next week~_


	28. Chapter 28

After a lot of ceaseless complaining, Rin managed to talk Daphne into seeing a doctor as soon as she could get in, which ended up being a lot later than he would have liked. He booked the day into his calendar all the same and made sure he had it off so he could go with her, so he could be there when the results came back and told them what she'd assured him was true.

They were going to have a baby.

Rin couldn't get enough of the idea. Them. _Parents_. It made him giddy. Made him absolutely froth with joy. The second they were out of the hospital, he picked Daphne up and spun her around, put her down in the parking lot and kissed her and kissed her and kissed her. She laughed, shaking her head.

"This is scary," Rin said.

Daphne smiled. "I know."

They took the little certificate the doctor had given them to their local center and collected their health handbook, and a lot of other books, and a little badge with a mom and a baby on it that would let people know Daphne was pregnant so she could have the priority seating on the train. Something told Rin Daphne wasn't going to carry it, but it was so cute, and he wanted her to have it if she did need it, so he secretly attached it to her bag.

In twelve or so weeks, they would come back and find out the baby's due date and sex. Rin put that in his calendar, too.

He went around the rest of the afternoon—well, the _week_ really—in a daze of sick excitement. They'd decided not to tell anyone else about the pregnancy until later on. Shura and Yukio and Shiemi were welcome in "the know" but the rest of the world could wait, though Rin could hardly wait to tell them. He wanted to climb to the highest tower of True Cross Academy and shout it at the top of his lungs:

"I'm going to be a dad, and I'm very underqualified and honestly terrified, but damn it if it isn't incredible!"

The only person they hesitated over was Mephisto. He probably ought to know, given the situation, but, given the situation, he seemed to have a lot on his mind. He'd been distant before, and had downright _disappeared_ on numerous occasions, but Rin had never seen him so…distracted. It was odd. So they decided to hold off. At least for a little while.

Director Akiyama arrived on a Monday not long after, and somehow Rin and Daphne got saddled with meeting her at the train station before school in the morning. Mephisto had instructed them to show her the way to the office and research facility he'd had mocked up for her in the top floor girls' locker room in the gym building. Understandably, she didn't look too thrilled to see them.

"Welcome to Academy Town," Daphne said, masking her nausea under a smile. She'd been pretty sick most mornings, but had still managed to be up and about. Rin didn't know how she was on her feet at all. After watching her sit in front of the toilet once, puking but not really since she didn't bring anything up, he'd decided being pregnant would have knocked him down for the count.

"Thank you," Akiyama replied. Her grip flexed uncomfortably over the handle of her luggage.

"I'll take that…if you want?" Rin said, gesturing to the suitcase. The thing was gigantic. She'd packed enough for a long-term stay and was hesitant to pass it to him for one reason or another. As soon as Rin had his hands on the luggage, Daphne lead the way out of the station

"How are things going with the investigation on Miyajima?" Rin asked.

"Closed," Akiyama replied. "We determined, officially, that this demon I've been dragged out here to study was what killed my colleagues after they summoned it." She spat the last couple of words out like they had a bitter taste, but then gave Rin a quizzical expression. "Were you not informed?"

Rin shook his head. "Mephisto took us off the case."

Akiyama clicked her tongue. "But he sent you to retrieve me."

"We're not in the habit of questioning Lord Pheles's logic," Daphne chimed in, arriving at a door a few feet ahead and pulling her cram school keys from her pocket. "As logic isn't often involved."

That earned a reluctant smile from Akiyama. Returning it, Daphne put a key in the lock, then hesitated. She drew in a breath.

"Director," she said, "I understand your feelings toward us. They're very much deserved, but…we're on the same side now. Rin and I—we want to cooperate with you. I apologize for the way I treated you. I hope it won't affect anything moving forward."

Both women regarded each other solemnly, taking the other in. After a moment, Akiyama nodded. A small smile crept onto her mouth.

"My behavior is worthy of an apology as well," she said. "Had I been forthright, we might not have been in this situation at all." Glancing between the two of them, she gave a firm nod. "Your cooperation would be very much appreciated."

Daphne let her breath out and returned Akiyama's smile. Then she turned the key, opened the door, and stepped into the cram school. Rin gestured for Akiyama to go next and brought up the rear, dragging her luggage behind him.

* * *

Daphne had a first period class to teach, so she left Rin to get Akiyama settled in the new research lab. That locker room still reeked of the demon, though Daphne supposed it wasn't a smell exactly. It was a feeling. A sensation. One of deep and foreboding dread.

She could push the thought away, remind herself that the trail had gone cold, and try to take comfort in the demon's silence, but that didn't mean it was gone. She understood—at the back of her mind, where the shadows lived and crawled—that it was _not_ gone. That it was _far_ from gone. That she and Rin probably could have been diagnosed with some kind of dissociative disorder for deciding to add a child to the mix, but she had reached a point in her life when she was tired of allowing her demons to rule her.

She was in charge.

And she wanted to be a mother.

At lunchtime, she met up with Rin and he insisted that they satisfy her sudden craving for yakisoba when she mentioned it. He'd been a perfect model of a cinematic husband when it came to cravings. If Daphne so much as said the name of a food, he'd be halfway into his shoes and out the door to go to the store in a matter of seconds. She figured his eagerness would settle as the pregnancy went on, but that afternoon she wanted yakisoba and Rin led the charge.

He took her to the little restaurant where they'd first had dinner together. The second Daphne saw it, her eyes welled up.

"What?" Rin asked, suddenly concerned. "Do you not want yakisoba anymore?"

Daphne laughed, wiping her tears away as they spilled over. "Why would changing my mind about lunch make me cry?"

Baffled, he shook his head. Laughing again, but crying still, Daphne took his hand and lifted it to her mouth to press a fervent kiss on his knuckles.

"I love you _so_ much," she said.

Her mood swings as the weeks went on were much like that one. She'd find herself crying at sappy television commercials or wanting to strangle one of her students for trying to turn in a paper late. She gained a little weight, and the morning sickness changed from a daily occurrence to a few times a week to hardly at all. In that time, Akiyama had squirreled herself away in her new lab and hardly emerged. Mephisto had kept up his decision not to involve Rin and Daphne in the investigation, as it was, of their demon. It was strange, eerie almost. Their lives had gone from off-the-rails insane to quietly domestic.

Something about it felt rather like trying to shove a square peg in a round hole.

"Does something about this seem off to you?" she asked out of the blue while she was lying on the couch with a washcloth over her eyes and feeling particularly miserable.

"Something about what?" Rin replied from the kitchen.

"I don't know… _this_. Life. Things."

Rin came into the room, sat down by her feet, put them in his lap, then tapped her knee. She lifted the washcloth to find him offering a bowl of egg donburi, which she ravenously accepted. He had one for himself and he settled back against the couch to eat, looking thoughtful.

"Is it bad to have a little quiet?" he asked.

"Not bad. Just unusual."

" _Definitely_ unusual." He nodded, his mouth full. "Good timing though, maybe."

Daphne had had that same thought herself: how fortunate that things had calmed down while she was pregnant. But opposite to that was the wondering if they would have tried for a baby at all if there hadn't been a lull. She honestly didn't know the answer to that question. It was both frightening and pointless to think about.

Rin rested a gentle hand on her leg. "I think we need lessons on how to take it easy."

And the lull continued. Another week. Two. Three. Mephisto hardly spoke to them. Rin went on ordinary exorcisms, and Daphne taught her classes. They attended their prenatal appointments. Akiyama emerged once or twice to report on her findings—inconclusive, for the moment, but she felt confident she was simply developing controls. Shura wanted constant updates on how Daphne was doing, and Shiemi nearly let the secret slip a number of times. Yukio, naturally, was the only one of the three who managed to keep his head on his shoulders about it.

Quietly—to Daphne's simultaneous relief and dismay—her first trimester came to a close. She didn't know what to make of it. Not as she and Rin got ready to go to the hospital for their ultrasound appointment. Not in the train on the way there when somebody gave up their seat for her and she finally noticed the pregnancy badge Rin had attached weeks ago. Not as they went inside and checked in. Not even as the sonographer applied the jelly and put machine to stomach.

Daphne had woken up that morning sick with worry and excitement. This was it. _The_ test. They'd find out today if everything was all right, if the baby was positioned correctly, if it was healthy, when it was due. There was so much to look forward to, and so much that could go wrong. What if it _wasn't_ healthy? What if it had attached in an unstable place? If the news was bad, Daphne couldn't guess at the devastation.

So when the sonographer made a face, Daphne tensed immediately.

"What?" she asked.

"Give me a moment, please," the sonographer replied. She didn't even try to sound calming, just professional. Daphne looked to Rin, her brows knit with worry, and he looked back equally concerned, stroking her hand as he held it. Daphne braced herself. Ready. Ready to hear whatever horrible thing that was about to come out of the sonographer's mouth. Ready for anything but what she ended up saying, which was, "Yes, I thought I saw two."

Her heart stopped. _Stopped_.

Daphne didn't have the wherewithal to do much else than stare at the woman and let her mouth hang open as she whispered, " _What?_ "

"Mm." Smiling, the sonographer smiled. "See? Here." She pointed at the ultrasound screen, which didn't look like much to Daphne outside of a black and white block of mush, and outlined two shapes—shapes which, no matter how else she tried to slice it, were definitely two distinct babies.

" _How?_ "

The sonographer laughed. "If not genetic, then fertility treatments can often increase the likelihood of having twins. Not genetic, I take it?"

"Not for _me_ ," Daphne replied.

Finally, she looked up at Rin. His eyes were locked on the screen and they were wide, wider than seemed possible, focused so intently on the ultrasound, and…happy. _Overjoyed_. He teared up a little and he laughed, looking at Daphne.

"Twins," he said, and it came out a squeak.

She couldn't help smiling, giving his hand a squeeze.

Twins.


	29. Chapter 29

Rin couldn't stop looking at the printout from the ultrasound appointment. When they got home, he'd just sat down on the couch and taken it out and he had absolutely no idea how long he'd been sitting there because he couldn't really comprehend anything else outside of the picture. Outside of the yellow circles around each baby and the date at the top. March twenty-fourth. It was likely they'd arrive even before then, since most twins came early.

 _Twins_. He still couldn't believe it. The sonographer had easily identified one of the babies as a male, the smaller of the two. She hadn't been as sure about the other, but had told Rin and Daphne it was likely that the second was female. A boy and a girl. Rin didn't really care if his kids were boys or girls or somewhere in between, if they would have the blue flame or be completely human, or anything else, as long as they were happy and safe. Daphne sat down on the couch beside him and put her arm across his shoulders.

"You all right?" she asked, smiling.

He tore his eyes away from the printout to look at his beautiful, beautiful wife and he nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I feel amazing."

Daphne kissed his cheek and stroked the hair on the back of his head and rested her own against his shoulder. She looked at the printout, too, and let out a long breath.

"Guess we overdid it on the fertility treatments, huh?" she chuckled.

Rin shook his head. "They're perfect."

Daphne smiled and closed her eyes, and the two of them sat in silence for a long time, just relishing the feeling. It had been ages since Rin had been this giddy about anything. As acute as the pain of the miscarriage had been, so was the excitement and joy that overwhelmed him now. He was already looking forward to March.

But the stillness was broken when the phone rang.

Rin had to sit up to get at the thing in his pocket and disturbed Daphne in the process. She took the printout when he offered it so his hand would be free.

"It's Akiyama," he said, looking at the phone screen before answering. "Hello?"

"Mister Okumura, hello," Akiyama said on the other side. She sounded breathless, nervous maybe. "I'm sorry to disturb your evening."

Rin glanced at Daphne who was watching his face with worried eyes. "No, that's all right. What's up?"

"Are you and Major Okumura available to come to the lab? My experiments are finally conclusive. I've confirmed a…a connection, a link, I believe, to the demon in question. But I have never had personal contact with it, and that's put a bit of a kink in the hose, if you'll excuse the crude analogy."

"You want us to come down and unkink the hose?"

Daphne's eyebrows drew together and she put her hands up and mouthed, "What the hell?" but of course she couldn't hear Akiyama, so Rin's reply had no context.

"Not exactly," she replied. "More like fuel—I can explain once you get here. If tonight doesn't work, perhaps tomorrow morning? I'm keen to get on with the procedure as quickly as possible, and—"

"Let me just ask Daphne."

Rin held the phone away from his face. "She wants to know if we're free to go to the lab tonight."

"Did she say why?"

"She wants to use us as fuel for a connection to the demon."

The flicker of a grim frown passed over Daphne's features. Darkness always slept just beneath the surface with her. The slightest whisper and it would wake and rise. She glanced away from Rin for a moment, considering, her hand placed over her abdomen. Then she wet her lips and nodded.

"Tell her we'll be there as soon as possible."

* * *

They made use of their cram school keys to maximize efficiency. Daphne didn't see a point in taking the train to the Academy when the situation was so serious. She'd had enough sick-rolling stomach over the course of the day that to even _think_ of riding the train, wondering the whole way there what it was Akiyama wanted them for, and what the results of that wanting might be, was out of the question.

So she and Rin stepped through their front door into the cram school and made their way quickly to the girls' locker room on the top floor of the gym building.

Daphne hadn't visited much since Akiyama's arrival. Not that she'd visited _at all_ after being nearly drowned in the bathtub, but she hadn't had a reason to go. With Akiyama's lab set up in the epicenter of the spiritual energy as it was known on True Cross Academy grounds, she'd had plenty of reason. But she'd always found a means to duck out when she could.

The energy in the room was simply too strong.

She felt it hit her the second she stepped into the building. A wave of dread and nausea that had her physically staggering backwards. When Rin looked her way, his eyebrows raised, she shook her head, swallowed, and pressed forward. But the nausea only worsened the closer they got. Rin didn't seem to sense it in the same way she did. Daphne wondered if that was because it had been _her_ encounter with the demon in the locker room, or if it had to do with her bonding to Kurikara and the stronger connection to Gehenna she'd been able to feel because of the baby.

Babies.

That was going to take some getting used to.

By the time they reached the locker-room-turned-lab, the power of the place was practically pulsating in Daphne's head. She closed her eyes and tried to shut it out as Rin knocked on the door, but she couldn't eliminate the feeling completely.

"You feeling okay?" Rin asked.

She shook her head. "Not really."

Rin drew in a breath to respond, but Akiyama opened the door then.

"Thank you for coming," she said, stepping to the side to allow them in. "Lord Pheles is on his way as well."

Daphne and Rin exchanged curious expressions.

"Really?" Rin asked.

"Mm." Akiyama motioned for them to follow her across the room. "I called to inform him of the progress I've made and to propose a further plan of action. He's had me on a short leash, as expected, so I've had to receive approval at every stage."

She brought them to a small section of the locker room in the far corner. The place had long since been completely transformed. Tables and equipment and computers and the whole shebang. A couple rows of lockers had even been removed to suit it all. Akiyama had transformed as well. She'd developed an assertiveness Daphne hadn't ever seen her display. And there were bags under her eyes.

"I'll brief you before he arrives."

She trotted them through a general overview of the experiments she'd been conducting since her arrival. Mephisto had given her express instructions to discover anything and everything she could about the demon in question. Initially, her research had focused on engineering the summoning spells her team—the dead ones—might have used to break the thing out in the first place. After all, she couldn't study a demon she couldn't observe. That had taken weeks, and she'd gathered other information in that time, reviewing her past attempts at spirit bonding, reading witness accounts from exorcists who had attended to manifestations that had shown the five pointed star pattern. Weeks and weeks of data gathering and attempts at summoning had followed.

"Which brings us to today," she said, then regarded each of them seriously for a moment. "I believe I have created a spell that will summon this spirit."

Daphne went tense. _Summon_ it?

"Something went wrong with the spell my colleagues initially used," she continued. "From what I've been able to gather based on photographs, and observations of the water drainage in this room, one of the lines in the pattern is slightly curved."

She unearthed a photograph that had lines traced over the top from a mess of papers on her desk and offered it to Rin and Daphne.

"Undoubtedly, this imperfection is why they failed to bind it."

"What makes you think you'll be successful?" Daphne asked. "That thing is incomprehensibly more powerful now."

Akiyama conceded with a nod. "There _is_ a risk. I have developed a new method, one that relies on preexisting channels. In experimentation, an already open channel requires far less energy than creating a new link, and the unused energy can be devoted instead to binding. It is one of the reasons Tamers grow more easily able to summon and command their familiars over time. Your channel to this demon, as far as I can gather, is the most established."

Daphne looked at her lap. She drew a deep breath in through her nose and let it out through her mouth. It felt like she was breathing in the air of Gehenna itself.

"What's the end goal here?" Rin asked.

"To detain and bind the demon in such a way that will allow me to study it," Akiyama replied. "Lord Pheles has agreed to assist with that."

"So you just need us to open the channel. Unkink the hose."

Akiyama nodded. "Essentially, yes."

"And if you're able to study the demon…"

"It is expected that I will be able to discover a way to either destroy it or bind it permanently."

This was crazy. _Crazy_. Azazel—one of the eight demon kings, and the third most powerful—hadn't been able to keep the spirit bound permanently. Akiyama, she was just a person, just an exorcist and a researcher. However, it had been her research that had led to the demon getting out in the first place. It was likely that she was the only one who understood the kinds of restraints required to put it back.

Daphne looked up. "What do you need us to do?"

"Neither of you are Tamers, correct?"

"No," Daphne replied, "but I've bonded four demon swords and I have an Aria meister."

Akiyama blinked. "Four?"

Daphne nodded.

"Lord Pheles informed me that you had only three demon swords." She began hunting through her papers again, as if looking for confirmation that that was what she had been told.

"The fourth is Kurikara. Rin's blade," Daphne replied. "That bond is new. As of, like, twelve weeks ago." Twelve weeks on the dot, almost.

Akiyama looked to Rin. He shrugged.

"Not a Tamer, or an Aria. And I've just got the one bond, but I don't really know how I did it, so I'd say Daphne's your best bet."

Except for that she felt like hell, but Daphne didn't say anything about it. She wanted this demon gone. _Gone_ gone. Off her mind and out of her life for good. If she could make that happen _before_ her child— _children,_ damn it—arrived, then all the better. She didn't care how sick she felt, or how badly Gehenna had been knocking on her skull since she'd arrived. She'd overcome it before and she would overcome it again.

"Tell me what to do," she said.

* * *

Akiyama talked both of them through the procedure. Rin would provide secondary energy and support while Daphne followed Akiyama's spell instructions. Akiyama would monitor and make adjustments as needed, and Mephisto would trap the demon once it arrived.

It was a pretty solid plan, and as far as Rin could tell, the science checked out, but he couldn't help feeling like they were kicking a hornets' nest. They had no way of knowing how powerful the spirit was now. Would Akiyama's formula even be enough to summon it in the first place? Would Mephisto have the ability to control a demon that had successfully possessed a demon king?

Rin sat and chewed on his lip while Daphne practiced the incantation and the movements for the artificial summoning spell. She'd gone into full military mode, but that was probably a good thing. Rin was all kinds of wound up. He wished he was able to even look a fraction as calm as Daphne did on the outside.

When Mephisto appeared in a puff of pink smoke and glitter, Rin actually jumped.

"Apologies, dear brother," Mephisto replied, his expression grim. Ordinarily he would have cracked up, and it was actually more unnerving that he hadn't. His eyes passed from Rin to Akiyama. "Is everything in order?"

She nodded. "I'm prepared on my end. The rest is up to the Okumuras."

Mephisto looked to Rin, so Rin gestured his attention over to Daphne. She was laser-focused—like a she-wolf or a mother bear. Surprisingly, Mephisto folded his hands over the handle of his umbrella and waited for Daphne to respond rather than waltzing right over to break her concentration. After a moment, Daphne looked up.

"I'm ready."

"Places," Mephisto said, and his lips curled back in a dark smile.

Rin and Daphne went to the tub the spirit had tried to drown her in and stood in the basin, positioning their feet under Akiyama's direction in the places she'd outlined in permanent marker. Between their feet was a precisely measured, precisely drawn pentagram. Akiyama turned on the water just enough for it to run down the drain and trace the outline of the five pointed star. She spent a moment adjusting the flow, then nodded to Mephisto, who took his place behind the faucet. Akiyama went to a table covered in research instruments and switched on a bunch of monitors.

"Mr. Okumura, the connection, please."

Reaching out, Rin locked eyes with Daphne and placed his hand on her shoulder, close to her neck. She took deep, measured breaths as the atmosphere seemed to build around them, like how the air tingles right before a lightning strike. In his other hand, he held the spell instructions facing Daphne so she could read them.

"Lord Pheles?"

Mephisto tapped the point of his umbrella once against the tile, igniting a bluish-purple glow at the tip. Akiyama checked the readings on her instruments before speaking again.

"Major Okumura, whenever you're ready."

Daphne squared her shoulders. Took a deep breath. Then began to read.

" _Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me_."

It was a fairly generic verse, one that was pretty common as far as Rin remembered. Daphne spoke in English, though. Akiyama wanted the King James Version for one reason or another, which Rin supposed only made Daphne an even better candidate. Native English speaker. Trained by Catholics. Carrier of three Puritan demon blades. God, he loved her so much. He let that energy course through him. Hopefully it would help.

" _Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies_ ," Daphne continued. She raised her arms above her head, following the diagram drawn beside the verse on the paper with precision. The air began to crackle. " _Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over._ "

The crackling turned into stinging, and a wind began to blow. Daphne lowered her arms in a wide arc.

" _Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life._ "

The wind picked up, whipping Daphne's hair, forcing Rin to squint. It became an all-out gale in a matter of seconds, and Daphne had to shout to hear herself over the force of it.

" _And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!_ "

The wind _howled_. Rin tightened his grip on Daphne's shoulder and clutched the instruction paper to keep it from being ripped from his hands. Overhead, the lights flickered, and the wind expanded to fill the whole room, knocking over several of Akiyama's instruments and sending hundreds of her papers flying.

" _Lift up your heads, O ye gates._ " Daphne raised an arm above her head and the wind tore at it. " _And the King of glory shall come in_."

These were modified verses, and she had to get them right.

" _Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle._ "

She raised her other arm and the wind tore at that one. One of the bulbs above their heads broke with a shattering pop.

" _Lift up your heads, O gates, and the King of glory shall come in._ "

Another bulb broke, then another, and another. With a sound like a thunderclap, the whole of them shattered, sending glass into the wind and making the room go black—black except for the light at the end of Mephisto's umbrella, which was gradually growing. Daphne lowered her arms in the arc again, then raised them through a mantra at her chest.

" _Who is this King of glory?_ "

The water coming from the faucet suddenly increased.

" _The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory._ "

Akiyama shouted something that was lost over the roar of the wind.

" _Selah!_ "

At once the wind ceased. Glass fell tinkling from the air, peppering Rin's hair. Everything was silent.

Including the faucet.

"Did it work?" Rin asked.

Akiyama shushed him, so he looked at Daphne instead. Her eyes were shut, her brows drawn together with incredible focus. Then Rin heard it—a distant rumbling.

It sounded like a rockslide miles and miles away, getting closer every second, and building and building the closer it got. Daphne's jaw clenched and her face strained and Akiyama called out to her.

"A moment more, Major Okumura! The spirit comes!"

Daphne's lips peeled back to show her teeth, grit with the effort of the summoning spell. Rin tensed his hand on her shoulder, willed that to do something as the rumbling continued to grow.

"Hold!" Akiyama cried.

Daphne strained. Rin could feel the muscles in her neck taught as rope. The rumbling was deafening now, and it sounded all around them, like the pipes themselves were trembling. Daphne started to roar, and that roar built with the rumbling, grinding her vocal chords, the sound of the effort she couldn't keep inside anymore.

She _bellowed_.

Then Rin felt her shoulder fall from his hand.

And every pipe in the locker room burst.

It was like a geyser had erupted. Rin called out to Daphne, but water got in his mouth and he choked; it sprayed into his eyes and blinded him. He reached for her, but couldn't find her, and in that moment of panic, he felt a powerful voice in his mind.

" _HELLO, DARK ONE_."

Rin reeled. The spirit had never spoken to him with such strength before. He almost couldn't understand the words and they _hurt_. They rattled his brain like a marble in a can.

" _YOU HAVE CALLED ME HERE._ "

Rin couldn't find the energy to respond. It was like she was sucking it out of him. Water continued to pour from the ceiling and spray from the floor and he couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't find Daphne—where was _Daphne?_

" _ARE YOU READY TO BE ONE?_ "

She—she was _pleased_. She was excited. The pure joy that colored the question was entirely incomprehensible given the dominating way the voice boomed. For a moment, Rin couldn't sense anything but her power drawing nearer to him, reaching out, eagerly grasping. Then, there was a cry, and it tore Rin's mind to shreds.

" _YOU HAVE BETRAYED ME._ "

The world went _pop!_

And suddenly Rin was standing soaking wet in the bathtub in the girls' locker room with all the lights on.

Daphne was in the basin below him, on her side and elbow deep in water. She was coughing fiercely and holding a hand to her head. Akiyama was braced against her table, which had been pushed against the far wall, surrounded by equipment as wet and wrecked as she was. Mephisto had maintained his footing, his arm extended and wielding his umbrella. His breath came and went in heavy pants. His clothes were doused, his hair drooping, and in the air, above Rin, suspended on the point of the umbrella was a cube of what Rin could only describe as compressed space.

"Were you successful?" Akiyama called as Rin bent down to check on Daphne.

Mephisto grunted, then offered a strained, "Perhaps."

Akiyama dashed over to help him, but Rin wasn't paying attention, he was holding onto Daphne and helping her to her feet.

"I'm sorry," she said, breathing like she was exhausted. "I couldn't hold it."

"You did your best, Miss Lux," Mephisto replied. He and Akiyama carefully lowered the cube to the ground onto a metal sheet where it seemed to lock into place. "None of us quite anticipated that, hm?"

He chuckled, but the chuckle turned into a cough. "This prison will not hold her interminably. Not with an incomplete binding."

Daphne cursed and pressed the heels of her hands against her brows. Her eyes squeezed shut and a few tears cut down her already wet face.

"It wouldn't have regardless, Miss Lux," Mephisto added. He left Akiyama to the work of securing the cube and stepped over to Daphne. "This was only a temporary measure. To allow Director Akiyama time to study."

"And how much time does she have now?" Daphne spat.

Mephisto pursed his lips. "That I cannot say."

"The spirit's angry," Rin added. "I think she'll be trying to get out."

The three of them went quiet. The water continued to drip from the ceiling and drain through the floor. The lab had practically been destroyed. Mephisto, in an uncharacteristic show of affection, put his hand on Daphne's shoulder. She looked him dead in the eyes.

"I'm pregnant," she said.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hiiiiiii. I busted my ass to get something a little more substantial out, and had my ass handed to me in the process. Haha! If you liked it, let me know! I love reading comments. They make me all fuzzy._


	30. Chapter 30

For one brief moment, a flicker of pride ignited Daphne's heart at having taken Mephisto Pheles, the grand puppetmaster, the arbiter of every chessboard, completely by surprise.

Mephisto stared at her, his eyes wide, his hand limp on her shoulder. His mouth hung open slightly. His face turned gaunt. The wet, drooping hair only added to the effect. In spite of everything, the expression made Daphne want to laugh through her tears. Laugh so hard she'd cry again.

"Oh," Mephisto said, and blinked. His back straightened and he cleared his throat. He even removed his hand from her shoulder, then reached back and patted it. "Felicitations."

Neither of them knew what to say to each other after that, so Mephisto cleared his throat again. Then he looked at Rin and said, "May I speak with you in the hallway, Mr. Okumura?"

Rin glanced Daphne's way, but answered, "Sure?" and trailed Mephisto out of the room.

Daphne released her breath and it trembled through her lips. Her arms were shaking. Her legs were shaking. Whether that was from exhaustion or fear or having been soaked straight through, she couldn't have said, but it was like every ounce of warmth and energy had been sucked out of her. Whatever Mephisto had done had fixed the lights and the pipes, but there was still water all over the room, dripping from the ceiling and pooling on the floor. She wiped her nose and glanced over her shoulder at Akiyama who was busy attaching electrodes to the cube that apparently contained their spirit.

"How long was that supposed to hold her?" Daphne asked.

Without looking up from her work, Akiyama replied, "We were uncertain, but had the binding been complete, I would have been able to establish an estimate. A decay rate, if you will."

Daphne's throat cinched. At the back of her mind, she knew it wasn't her fault that the binding had failed. She'd done her best, and they hadn't anticipated how strong the spirit would be. And goddamn was it _strong_. Trying to hold her own against it had been like standing outside unprotected in a category five hurricane. Daphne had never come in direct contact with a demon that overwhelming before—aside from Rin and Mephisto, but neither of them had ever unleashed the full force of their power on her. And she'd thought having Rin burn her aura was bad…

"Major Okumura."

From her seat on the edge of the tub, Daphne turned again to look at Akiyama. The woman held her eye.

"Even this much would not have been possible without you."

Another shaky breath left Daphne's lips and she found herself smiling painfully. "Never quite enough, though, is it?"

Akiyama returned the smile with a grim one of her own, then broke eye contact and went back to work. "The battle between humans and demons is an eternal one," she replied. "Neither side has ever overcome the other. I'm of the belief that our time would be better spent working to understand each other, perhaps live symbiotically. Like you've done."

Daphne frowned. "What do you mean?"

Akiyama laughed, short and barking. "You're married to a half-demon. A demon who is half _Satan_. On some level, you're essentially the princess of Gehenna. On top of that, you not only _carry_ three demon blades, but have _bonded_ their spirits to yours. You've even bonded a blade that _doesn't_ belong to you." Akiyama looked up. "You could not live more symbiotically with demons unless you had demon blood yourself."

Daphne blinked at her. She had never thought about it that way. All the time she was focused on the bad in demons, what they had taken away from her, she hadn't ever considered everything they had given. Her hand drifted to her abdomen and Akiyama followed the motion with her eyes, then smiled.

"And you'll raise children in the sire line of Satan. Impressive, don't you think?"

A little blank, Daphne nodded. "I guess…yeah."

"Congratulations, by the way."

Daphne smiled at her feet, at her soaking socks and shoes and the pentagram on the basin beneath them. That nauseating energy, the power that had formerly permeated the room was gone, condensed into that cube behind her. The demon was contained for now, and that was something to be grateful for. She turned her smile toward Akiyama.

"Thank you."

* * *

Rin followed Mephisto into the hallway. The demon king closed the door to the girls' locker room softly behind him, opened his mouth to speak, then reconsidered and led Rin a short distance down the hall. It took Mephisto a second to figure out what he wanted to say.

"This…news…Miss Lux has just delivered. It is the truth?"

The look in his eyes was so serious, a pit of worry began to bubble in Rin's stomach as he nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, she's really pregnant."

Mephisto drew in a long breath and dropped his gaze to the floor, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. He was silent for a long moment before looking at Rin.

"I'm certain it isn't necessary for me to remind you of the circumstances of _your_ birth, brother," he said, "but, the purpose of your existence was to provide a vessel for the king of demons to manifest himself in Assiah. Nothing more. You can be certain an additional vessel in his sire line will not go unnoticed."

"Vessels," Rin corrected. "We're having twins."

A feather could have knocked Mephisto over. Rin had never seen him in such a state. It wasn't every day Mephisto was caught off-guard, much less twice in a matter of minutes. He just stared at Rin, then his gaze shifted slowly to the middle distance over Rin's shoulder. Another moment of silence, then he started to laugh—small at first, just little chuckles that he tried to stifle, but in a matter of seconds, he was absolutely bawling with laughter. He doubled over, holding his stomach, tears running down his cheeks, and he laughed until he had to gasp to breathe. Rin was too startled to do anything other than stand there.

"Twins," Mephisto said, gaining enough control over himself to speak again. "Ah, dear brother, you will never cease to amaze and amuse me." He clapped Rin on the shoulder and shook his head.

"It's true," Rin replied, a little ruffled.

"I have no doubt of that," Mephisto chuckled. "The truth is stranger than fiction. One could not invent something so poetic."

Rin just scowled, but the revelation had returned a little of Mephisto's mirth if nothing else. The demon king drew in a deep breath and released it with a pleasant sigh.

"You can be certain Satan will take interest in these new grandchildren of his," he said. "And with this demon-possessing spirit in the mix as well, your family in particular will need to watch their backs." He patted Rin's shoulder, but it wasn't exactly comforting. "Had you selected anyone other than Miss Lux for a mate, I might have called you an imbecile, but truly, brother, marrying that woman is the most intelligent thing you've ever done."

That was a backhanded compliment if ever there was one, but Rin had to admit that he agreed with the sentiment behind it.

"If there is a woman in Assiah today capable of delivering and rearing children with both your genes and Satan's, Daphne Lux is it."

"You don't have to be such an ass about it," Rin grumbled in response.

Laughing again, Mephisto grinned. "Be sure to keep me up-to-date on my godchildren," he said, patting Rin's cheek and then walking away.

" _What?_ Who said you could be their godfather?!"

Mephisto just raised his fingers to twiddle a wave without turning around. "Tootles~!" he said and disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

* * *

Daphne had begun helping Akiyama dry off her equipment with some towels from a locker that had escaped getting soaked when Rin came back into the room scowling and Mephisto-less. He held that scowl all the way over to the equipment table, and for whatever reason, it made Daphne laugh.

"What did he want to talk about?" she asked.

"The babies," Rin grumbled. "Wanted to remind me that Satan will probably be interested in them. He also decided to name himself their godfather."

Daphne snorted. "That is _not_ happening."

"I know!" Rin threw his hands up and grabbed a towel and dry stuff off as well. "I tried to tell him, but he just poofed away."

Akiyama chuckled. When Daphne looked her way, the woman offered a smile.

"I think I'm beginning to understand why Lord Pheles lets the two of you work together," she said.


	31. Chapter 31

When they got in that night, Daphne was shivering with exhaustion. She took a quick shower to warm up and wash off any residue from the burst pipes, then curled up in bed, a little dizzy. What a whirlwind of a day. Before they'd left the makeshift lab, Akiyama had informed them that the containment cube was likely to hold for some time and encouraged them both not to worry. Daphne shut her eyes, nuzzling her face into her pillow. Worrying was sort of the thing she did best.

Rin came in and put on his pajamas and turned off the light and got into bed, snuggling up and putting his arms around her. She leaned into his warmth and let her mind go still.

"Busy day," Rin said softly.

"Mm," Daphne agreed.

"You were amazing."

She couldn't help smiling. "Thank you for being there."

"Of course," he said, and she could sense the deeper, "I wouldn't be anywhere else," that lay beneath it, though the words themselves were unspoken. The two of them were quiet for a moment, then Rin spoke again. "We should have a party or something. To tell everyone about the babies."

Practically asleep, Daphne chuckled. "Only if you plan it."

He kissed her forehead. "Okay."

* * *

The date was set for a Saturday evening three weeks from then, and Rin went full-party-planner mode getting ready for it. He sent out invitations, ordered decorations, even hired a venue. It was ridiculous, but Daphne was happy to let him have his fun. It had been ages since either of them had simply had a nice time. Or had the security to even consider it.

As the party rolled around, Daphne was visibly pregnant, so the timing worked out. Rin had invited a good deal of coworkers and plenty of friends, most of whom didn't know about the babies in the first place, and Daphne couldn't have kept it a secret any longer.

They told people not to bring gifts, but they did anyway. Luckily the venue was nice enough to bring out an extra table to put them on. Daphne herself sat down with Shura and Shiemi at a table near the center of the room where she could greet people if they came to her, and wouldn't look like she was avoiding company, but also would give off the impression that brief congratulations were all that was needed. She was feeling fine, the morning sickness months having passed, but if she could play the "don't talk to me I'm pregnant" card then damn it she was going to play it. The party was more for Rin than it was for her anyway.

"How are you dealing with not drinking?" Shura asked, knocking back a beer even as she asked the question.

Daphne laughed. "I'm not _you_."

Shura gave her a hairy scowl, but took another swig. "Ha ha."

"When are you going to tell us if it's a boy or a girl?" Shiemi asked. An uncontrollable grin and slight blush had decorated her face from the moment she'd walked in the room.

"Later," Daphne said. "When everyone is here."

Shiemi squealed and clapped her hands. "Oh, I can't wait!"

"Will you and Yukio stick around after the party is over?" Daphne said. "You too, Shura. Rin and I want to talk to the three of you about something."

Shura and Shiemi exchanged glances, but nodded, Shura polishing off her beer.

Daphne smiled. "Thanks."

Friends, neighbors, colleagues—everybody stopped by their table to say hello and tell Daphne how great she looked. She wanted to punch every single one of them. What was it about being pregnant that made everybody think they had the liberty to call her cute? By the time Rin came and got her so the two of them could go to the front of the room and the silly "gender reveal" box full of balloons, she was ready to head home.

"I don't know why I agreed to this," she chuckled, stretching her back.

Rin just smiled. "Too late now."

Daphne conceded with a nod and an employee handed Rin a microphone as people started to gather.

"If everybody wants to come over here…? Yeah, thanks. That's great, thanks." Rin cleared his throat. "Um—thank you all for coming. We're—um—we're really excited to, um, to share this with you guys and to be parents. It's…kinda overwhelming, but…good. So, so good. So, are you ready?"

Cheers and applause from the party—particularly Shura who stood at the back on top of a chair, pumping her fist and hooting with one hand cupped around her mouth. Daphne shook her head and laughed, then looked at Rin. He looked back and smiled.

"Ready?" he asked.

Daphne nodded. "Ready."

Together they pulled back the piece of tape that was keeping the box closed, and all their friends and neighbors sucked in an anticipatory breath as the flaps opened and the balloons came out. The breath didn't quite turn into cheering, though, when both pink and blue balloons appeared and confused them.

"IS IT TWINS?" Shura shouted.

Rin nodded. "Yeah!"

She burst into tears again and her wailing was covered by a round of applause and celebration from everyone else who rushed forward to take Rin and Daphne into their arms.

* * *

After the party had died down and most everyone gone home, Shiemi and Yukio and Shura helped pack up the presents into bundles to carry back to Rin and Daphne's place. It took the five of them to do it, especially since Daphne couldn't carry as much as she normally would. She was carrying two little people who were far more important.

Rin had to set his bundle down to open the door, but soon everyone was inside and the presents were deposited in the spare room. He stood and looked at his and Daphne's desks for a moment, at the general mess and the boxes they still hadn't unpacked, the art they had never hung up, the bicycle they had never assembled. It was like they had known—somehow, at the back of their minds—that the room didn't belong to them, that it would be silly to move fully in because more family was coming and they would need a place to sleep. This room belonged to their children now. Soon they'd buy furniture to prove it.

Downstairs, Daphne was brewing tea and Yukio, Shiemi, and Shura were lounging around the living room. Daphne brought the cups and kettle in and took a seat herself, leaving Rin to pour. Once everyone had a cup, Yukio spoke.

"Shiemi said you wanted to talk with the three of us."

Daphne nodded. She shifted a little to get comfortable, then said, "We do."

Everybody waited, including Rin, while Daphne took a sip of her tea. He didn't really know how to explain what they wanted to talk about because what they wanted to talk about had been Daphne's idea in the first place.

"Are you familiar with the concept of godparents?" Daphne asked.

"Only in layman's terms," Yukio replied as Shiemi and Shura shook their heads.

"It's a Christian thing, but it doesn't have to be religious. Basically, godparents are sponsors. They're responsible for the religious education and spiritual upbringing of a newly baptized person—babies, usually—and they play an important role in their life. Like a mentor. Almost a second set of parents, if there are two." Daphne smiled and looked at each of them in turn. "I—we—wanted to ask if you would be willing to be godparents? Not to bring the kids up Christian or anything, but offer extra protection and guidance. As exorcists, but also just as decent human beings." She looked at her lap. "It would mean a lot to me."

The room was quiet. The second Daphne lifted her eyes, Shiemi snatched her hand and held it tight.

"I'd _love_ to."

Yukio nodded, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "So would I."

Of course Shura was blubbering and wiping her eyes, so she couldn't respond, but Rin took that as a yes.

"We were thinking Yukio and Shiemi could be the godparents for the boy, and, Shura, you and Father Michael—Daphne's old priest-teacher-guy—for the girl," he said.

They all nodded again and Shiemi let out a little coo, taking hold of Shura's hand as well. Yukio clapped a hand on Rin's shoulder.

"Another thing," Daphne said. She had a few tears of her own in her eyes, so she blinked them away and cleared her throat before continuing. "We don't know yet if either of them will inherit the blue flame. I…I'd like to find demon swords for each of them, in case they do and it's too strong for their bodies to hold."

"Say no more," Shura put in. "I'll take care of it."

Daphne looked deeply at her, smiling a smile that looked kind of sad. Shura smiled back.

"We'll probably need your help to seal the flame, too," Rin added. "Are you all okay to come to the hospital?"

Shiemi nodded firmly. "I was planning on being there anyway."

The five of them sat in the quiet again for a moment. To Rin, it felt like they were glowing. It was almost hard to believe that three weeks ago they'd trapped that spirit. That that spirit had wanted to possess him and probably could have succeeded. Lately, life had been a mad series of peaks and troughs. He had a feeling it would probably continue—so he was going to enjoy this peak to the fullest.

He held up his cup of tea.

" _Kanpai._ "

* * *

Later, when it was dark and Rin and Daphne lay side by side, he nestled close and rested his hands over her belly. She reached down to lace their fingers together and then fell still.

"Daph?" he whispered.

"Hm?" she replied.

"What do you want to call them?"

Daphne drew in a thoughtful breath and let it out slowly. "I don't know," she replied. "What do _you_ want to call them?"

He'd spent a lot of time thinking about it, but he wasn't sure how to bring it up. He didn't know how Daphne would react—if she'd be particular, or not mind much, or whatever—but it felt like a big responsibility, choosing a name that someone would have to carry for the rest of their life. He wanted to do a good job.

"I was thinking…" he started, then needlessly paused. "For the boy I'd really like it if he could be Shiro. After my dad." Swallowing, Rin waited tense.

Daphne turned over a little so she could find his lips and give him a kiss. She smiled, brushing his hair back out of his face.

"Shiro is perfect."

He let out a happy breath of relief, smiling back, smiling wide. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I like it."

"You can name the girl—you should. To keep it fair. You should pick her name."

Daphne laughed. "If you insist."

Rin nodded.

"I'll think about it then."

He scooted closer to give her a kiss as well, then settled back. His mind was so light, he felt like floating away, or maybe so excited he would never fall asleep, but he did, and he slept better than he had in months.


	32. Chapter 32

And now for this damned demon-in-a-box. Mephisto regarded the cube with a certain solemnity. The spell was his own, he knew it well, but something had warped ever so slightly to the left, and he felt—looking at it—rather like one might if a thief stole through one's house in the night and shifted all of the furniture exactly one half inch from its usual place. Something was not right, but nothing appeared to be wrong upon inspection. Mephisto for all his days could not put any of his endless fingers upon the problem.

"Azazel was right to be worried about you, hm?" he said to the cube, to the empty room.

He stood alone in Akiyama's laboratory on the top floor, moonlight flooding the windows, making the scene like something from the haunted house episode of a shojo anime. A smile cracked across Mephisto's mouth. Yes, he could work with that.

The cube, of course, made no reply. Neither did the spirit contained inside. He could sense her pulsation, however, the great power she held and could not contain. It was a power she had destroyed countless concourses of demons to obtain. The bloodshed in Gehenna had been astonishing. And for what? What did she want?

Mephisto circled the cube, heels clacking on the bathroom tile, the sound echoing through space. He studied the compressed reflection of the room and himself in its surface, the way the images bent and shifted as he moved.

"Everybody wants something," he said.

Again, silence was the only response.

Akiyama had been poking and prodding and measuring for weeks. She had yet to uncover any useful information. Much as Mephisto would have liked to scold her, he had turned up little information himself. It was not above him to reprimand others for the same faults he himself possessed, but not in this case. This case was beyond even him.

That was a rare occurrence.

Being King of Time gave him a peculiar…foresight. It was easy to stay several steps ahead of everyone else when one could quite literally _step_ into the future. Time lately had become—he hummed aloud— _hazy_. Indistinct and uncertain like he had seen only a handful of times in his existence. The possibilities into which this event would unfold were too vast for even him to comprehend.

Part of him wished Spirit had not already slaughtered those bloody fools who had pulled her from her prison. He would very much like to tear their throats out himself.

Setting his umbrella aside, Mephisto removed his gloves. First—a seal. He snapped his fingers and a shimmering pink bubble surrounded himself, the cube, and the metal sheet on which it sat. He expanded the seal, then created another within, and another, and another. It wouldn't do to make ripples. Not now. Not with the very future at stake.

He was several hundred layers deep by the time he decided he could proceed. Delicate, with a touch that would break the first—but _only_ the first—layer of human skin, Mephisto pressed a single fingernail against the cubic compression of space-time.

At once, he found himself face to face with a beautiful, vaporous woman. The two of them stood in an endless swath of grey-brown—extending into infinity and folded into a single atom at the same time. Spirit regarded him with a mixture of apprehension and contempt.

"Samael."

Mephisto's eyes flicked briefly to his forehead where the shadows of horns and the crown of pink flames that floated between them had made an appearance.

"Spirit," he replied.

They had never formally been introduced, though all of Gehenna now knew her name. This form of hers was new to him, as his undoubtedly was to her. Mephisto offered a sweeping bow.

"You have imprisoned me," Spirit said.

When he straightened, Mephisto was surprised to find a genuine expression of sorrow on her nearly-transparent face.

"Why have you done this?" she asked.

"My dear, it is what we do, those of us in power, to any who threaten upheaval."

Spirit did not seem to comprehend. She stiffened, but her expression remained constant.

"You have killed an immeasurable number of your brothers and sisters," he continued. "Did you expect the Kings would sit back and allow you to continue?"

"They are no kin or Kings of mine."

He might have expected to hear venom in her voice, but there was none. She regarded him with perfect solemnity, perfect detachment. The sentiment was only fair, he supposed. This creature had spent her entire existence thus far in isolation. She had had no contact with other demons, and knew nothing of their society. She owed them nothing but their own reckoning. Payment for the injustice done to her.

That was the danger with locking someone away. Sooner or later, they were bound to get out. And when they got out, one could be certain they would be angry.

"Perhaps not kin of yours, but kin of mine." He smiled, but there was little emotion behind it. "Kin to whom I have a duty of rule."

"I do not understand."

"No, I suspected you would not." Drawing in a breath, Mephisto locked eyes with her. "Their lives, Spirit, are my responsibility."

"Why?"

"Because I am more powerful than they are. Every race of intelligent beings requires leadership—in one form or another."

She smirked. "Then by your own rule, _your_ life is _my_ responsibility."

"I am master here."

"Here is nowhere. Here is nothing. Here is meaningless." Her voice shifted into something deeper, something resonant, something that caused the very fabric of the vastness to tremble. "You have not denied my superior power. And we will not always be here."

"What is it you seek, Spirit?"

"When we leave here, _I_ will claim rightful control of your life."

"What do you _want?!_ "

Under ordinary circumstances, Mephisto was not one to be intimidated. But these were not ordinary circumstances. He was deeply troubled. Between the raw potency this being possessed and the impending birth of two additional beings in the sire line of Satan, the pieces in play were as plentiful as they were unpredictable. If he could gain a handle on but _one_ of them, that would set his mind at ease.

"What do you want?" he repeated, wearing a false mask of calmness.

Spirit was silent for a great length of time. Or perhaps no time at all. It did not truly matter.

"To be connected," she said. "That is all I have ever wanted."

A flash, and Mephisto's link to the compression ended. He was returned to the locker room and his layers of seals. Several of them had shattered. Others displayed elaborate spiderwebs of cracks. He waited to dismiss the others until he was certain no part of him remained aligned with the compression. By the time he emerged, cold morning sunlight was creeping through the windows.

He clicked his tongue.

That had taken longer than he'd hoped.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hello, loves. Thanks ever so much for your patience. I haven't been feeling particularly happy when it comes to this story, and every time I sat down to write it, I just couldn't produce anything good. I didn't want to churn out chapters that weren't worth your time, or mine, just for the sake of keeping to a weekly update, so I held off. Scions has only gathered about a fifth of the response as Light Exorcist did (and still does), so I've been feeling a little discouraged about it if I'm honest. To you wonderful, lovely loyal readers a big THANK YOU and literally ALL of my appreciation! I'm so glad there are a handful of you out there who still keep up with this. Even when I disappear for a month. Thank you, thank you!_


	33. Chapter 33

Daphne thought long and hard about what to name her daughter. A name had to mean something. It had to be good. She thought about it while she taught. She thought about it while she ate. She thought about it on the train and on the couch and on exorcism consultations—in the house, in the office, at school, and outside. Everywhere. The program was always running in the back of her mind.

She and Rin prepared that spare room for the babies' arrival, fitted it out with the best they could afford. They moved their desks into the living room and made due without an office. Daphne didn't care. She couldn't wait. Every time one or the other or the both of them turned over inside her, her pulse would spike in excitement at the reminder. Not that she really needed a reminder. She was pregnant with twins for godsake.

The weeks wore on. She grew as the babies did. Both were healthy, though the boy was slightly smaller. She held her breath at every appointment, still waiting for the inevitable bad news. But it never came. There wasn't any. At least, not about the babies.

Mephisto and Akiyama were working round-the-clock on the compression cube that contained their spirit. The bad news there was that there was no news. Akiyama could not determine a decay rate for the spell Mephisto had cast, and every method she engineered to exorcise the demon was pure speculation. She ran tests, but there was no way to be certain if any of her ideas would work. Mephisto, for his part, was silent on the subject.

Daphne did her best to put it from her mind. But it _did_ stay there, to some degree, always floating at the fringes. Always turning over and over, like her consistent and yet unconscious attempts to find the right name.

She called Father Michael—to talk to him about everything, but also to ask if he would be the girl's godfather.

"Of course, kiddo," he chuckled. "I'd be honored. Jeeze. Yeah, yes. _Yes_. You let me know when you want me out there, and I'll be on a plane."

Daphne chuckled. "We'll see. They're due end of March, but they may come early."

"You tell them I said not to hurry."

She laughed again and then went quiet, a smile on her face. It was good to talk with Michael. He had this strong, calming sort of presence. She didn't know if that came with the territory of being a priest, or if it was just his nature, or even if she simply associated him with serenity because he'd been the one to train her, but she suddenly found herself wishing she'd spoken with him more often than she had across her life.

"You're excited, though?" he asked. "The two of you?"

"Very," Daphne said with a grin. "Rin's about ready to combust."

"That could be dangerous with that blue flame," Michael replied with a chuckle.

The comment got a laugh from Daphne, but it also dropped a little pebble into the pond of their conversation. Both of them were silent as they sensed the ripples. Michael spoke first.

"You think the kids'll inherit?"

Daphne let a long breath out through her nose. "I do," she said.

She'd grown more certain of it as time had passed. The twins' connection to Gehenna had been strong enough as _zygotes_ for Daphne to have sensed it and felt its effects. Even if they _didn't_ inherit the blue flame, that demon blood was bound to have some kind of sway. They wouldn't know until after they were born, of course.

"Are you worried?"

"About?"

"About extending the sire line of Satan," Michael replied.

Her jaw tightening, Daphne swallowed. "Mephisto did warn us."

"And?"

"And we haven't had any…problems…yet." She let a deep breath out her nose. "Things are a bit chaotic in Gehenna at the moment," she added. "Or so I'm given to believe." She'd sensed the churning of the energy between Assiah and Gehenna through her blade bond, but that was merely energy. Mephisto had spoken on politics, and that was something she had to take his word for. "There are other problems that need to be dealt ahead of mine and Rin's children."

"Daphne, once those problems are dealt with—"

"Satan will make himself known. In one way or another. I know."

Father Michael was quiet on the other end of the line. So was Daphne.

"We'll deal with it, Michael," she said, reassuring _him_ for perhaps the first time in her life. "We'll be ready."

The chuckle he gave her in response was subdued, but when he spoke she could hear the smile in his voice. "I've never heard you talk like that," he said. "Even after you married Rin." He hummed a short, musing sound. "Being a mother seems to have turned you into a new person. Yourself—but perfected. Like a resurrection." He laughed. "These kids are your Easter, huh?"

It was then that a little bell rang in Daphne's mind. The name program stopped running.

She knew what to call her daughter.

She finished her conversation with Michael and said goodbye, then waited in eager anticipation for Rin to get home. She'd fallen in love with him all over again watching him get things ready, pick out furniture and clothes and bottles. When he got in that night, his face lit up at the sight of her, and for some reason it made her want to cry.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, taking off his jacket, slipping off his shoes, and coming into the living room to give her a kiss.

Daphne nodded. "Good."

Smiling, Rin turned his attention to her belly and leaned a little closer. "And how are you?" he asked their children. He'd talked and read to them as often as he could, determined to ensure that they knew his voice at least half as well as they knew hers.

Daphne ran her fingers through his hair. "They're good, too."

Rin straightened up, his mouth split in a grin, and Daphne wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him forward for another kiss. They spent a moment in the embrace before Daphne pulled back slightly to whisper.

"I know our daughter's name."

A little jolt went through Rin. "Tell me."

"Easter," she said.

His smile doubled, somehow, in breadth and width and light, and it brought a smile to Daphne's face. Tears pricked her eyes, and Rin kissed her.

"I love it," he said, pulling back. "It's perfect."

Daphne smiled, and Rin leaned down, pressing a kiss to the fabric of her shirt over her belly.

"Shiro and Easter," he said, then smiled up at Daphne. "I can't wait."


	34. Chapter 34

"I've got good news, and I've got bad news," Shura said straight after walking into the office she and Rin shared at True Cross. She had a wad of gum in her mouth and a lengthy paper-wrapped object in her grip, which she transferred between hands as she took off her coat. Without asking which Rin wanted to hear first, she kept talking.

"Good news is I found a demon sword." She waggled the object in her hand. "Bad news is it's basically the only one in existence without a living owner." Coming forward, Shura dropped the paper-wrapped sword in his lap.

Starting, Rin sat up to catch it before it fell to the floor. Even through the paper, he could feel the slight buzz of energy the thing was giving off. He looked up at Shura.

"Where did you get it?" he asked.

She blew a bubble. "Okinoshima," she said. "In Kyushu."

"Isn't that like—"

"A sacred island only accessible to the shrine's priests? Yeah." She went to her desk and flopped into her chair, kicking her feet up and crossing her ankles. "That thing was a pain in the ass to get, so you'd better be happy with it."

Blinking, Rin looked down at the object in question. He gently set it on the desk, then untied the twine around the paper and let it fall loose. Inside was a katana in an unassuming wood scabbard, blue paint etched with a simple swirling pattern, like clouds. He was no expert on swords, but this one looked super dated and super out of use. In good condition, just…old.

He stood up to unsheathe it. The sword came free of its scabbard with an airy swish. It was light in his hands, lighter than Kurikara, and the hamon down the length of the steel was feathery. The demonic energy seemed latent, almost like it was sleepy.

"That is Aokaze," Shura said. "I had to put the fear of god into those damn priests to get them to part with it." Chuckling, she rose and came to examine the blade alongside Rin. "Luckily the news that I needed it to keep a Satan sire from setting the whole world on fire was pretty convincing." She titled her head to the side. "What do you think?"

Rin gave the blade a test swing. "I don't know," he said. "Do you think it will be strong enough?"

Shura blew and popped another bubble. "Who can say? We don't know how powerful your kids are gonna be. _If_ they even inherit the blue flame." She held out her hand for the sword, so Rin passed it over.

"That's true," he said.

"Kind of a moot point anyway," Shura said. "Either the sword is strong enough, or it's not. We don't have any other options."

"Besides trying to convince a living exorcist to part with their blade, murdering one of those exorcists _for_ their blade, or attempting to bind a demon to a new sword in a crazy ritual."

"Right."

Rin sighed. He watched as Shura took a couple of swings, then sheathed the blade and passed it back to him. He frowned at the scabbard, but he wasn't disappointed exactly. Just uncertain. There were a lot of variables at play here. If one of the twins inherited the blue flame, they'd have somewhere to put its demon heart. But what if both of them did? What if the blade wouldn't hold up? Kurikara had done fine with Rin's until he'd been a teenager, and had stayed together ever since he'd unsheathed it that first time. Maybe that would be the case here. But then that raised the question of whether or not he and Daphne wanted to make the decision from the get-go for their child to live as a quarter-demon.

"Looks like you just took a wild ride down a thought spiral," Shura said. "Spill."

Rin lifted his gaze from the sword to her face. "Let's say this blade is perfect. It can contain a demon heart without any problems."

"Okay."

"Do we keep it sheathed forever and give Shiro or Easter a chance at a normal life? Do we unsheathe it straight away so that they grow up knowing demons? Or do we leave it sheathed, but give them the choice later if they want to open it or not?"

"Huh."

Shura mused for a moment, folding her arms across her chest.

"Which would you choose for yourself?" she asked. "If you could go back and do it all again?"

About a thousand emotions flooded Rin all at once. Which would he choose for himself? He thought of all the suffering Yukio had done alone—having demon sight since he was a baby, training to be an exorcist while he was still a kid. He thought of all the pain and confusion suddenly coming into knowledge of demons had caused him, and not just knowing demons but learning that he was one. He thought about Fujimoto—his old man—how he'd died protecting Rin, and that thought struck deepest of all. If Rin had known…if Rin had been prepared…maybe he wouldn't have been able to do anything, maybe Fujimoto still would have died at Satan's hands, but maybe Rin would have been able to save him or changed _something_.

"I'd want to know," he said. "I'd want to grow up knowing."

Shura nodded. "Seems smart," she said. "I don't think you or Daphne would be able to keep it secret for long anyway. You wanna have to hide your tail in your own house?"

Rin hadn't considered that. How had he _not considered_ that?

"Holy shit, Shura, my kid could have a _tail._ "

Snorting, Shura smacked him upside the head. "Of course, dum-dum. Your _kids_ could have tails."

Rin was entirely taken aback by the thought. Apparently, he hadn't really put together what having part-demon children would mean. They could come out looking like him. Soon, he might not be the only one. A stupid smile spread across his face. If they had tails, he'd make sure they grew up comfortable in their own skin. And proud. He'd spent way too long embarrassed of his demon form and he'd do his best to keep his kids from feeling that same way.

"I guess the next problem is finding a second sword," Shura said. She went to her desk and sat down.

Nodding, Rin put Aokaze back on the paper and wrapped the katana up. "What's it gonna be? Bribery, murder, or dangerous ritual?"

Shura hummed a moment. "I mean, murder is definitely the _easiest_ option."

Rin laughed. "And bribery's the least risky."

Shaking her head, Shura sat up in her seat, turned on her computer, and got ready to work. "I don't know, Rin," she said. "I think we're gonna be hard pressed to find an exorcist willing to part with their blade."

* * *

Daphne looked up from her desk in her classroom when a knock sounded on the open door. It was Rin, arriving for lunch. She smiled at him and stood up, rising slowly to her feet so she wouldn't get dizzy. As soon as she was upright, Rin offered her a strangely shaped package.

"What is this?" she asked as she took it from him and set it down to untie the twine.

"Aokaze," Rin replied. "A demon sword Shura found. For one of the twins."

A rush of excitement flooded Daphne and she slipped the paper free. The katana was beautiful, simplistic. Its energy was light and airy. She unsheathed it and swung it through the air—forgetting for a moment that this was an _English_ classroom and anyone could have walked in.

"What do you think?" Rin asked, smiling.

"Let me see."

She shut her eyes and focused on the push and pull between Assiah and Gehenna, seeking out the spirit of the blade. It was small and dim—uncultivated or perhaps used to not being disturbed. The spirit drew away from her, indignant like it wanted to go back to bed. She opened her eyes. Rin had his eyebrows raised.

"Could do with some exercise," she chuckled.

"You didn't bond it, did you?"

Shaking her head, Daphne laughed outright. "I can't just bond any blade I want," she said.

Rin half rolled his eyes. "You've bonded four blades, one of which doesn't even belong to you, so forgive me for making assumptions."

She sheathed Aokaze and set the sword down on her desk, taking Rin's face into her hands so she could give him a peck on the lips. "I'm glad you think so highly of me."

Rin laughed. "I still can't believe you agreed to be my wife."

She kissed him again. "The best decision I ever made."

They smiled at each other for a moment before Rin spoke again.

"What do you think we should do about finding a second blade? Shura says that's the only one without an owner."

Daphne had started wrapping Aokaze back up in the paper, but she paused, looking up to frown. "Really?"

Rin nodded. "I guess. Shura would know. She had to manhandle a bunch of priests to even get _that_ one."

Daphne pursed her lips in thought. Creating a new blade was absolutely out of the question. The ritual was ancient, and dangerous, and hadn't been completed successfully for hundreds of years. And with things in Gehenna the way that they were, she wasn't particularly keen to tempt fate by disturbing them further. That, and attempting to bind demons by man-made means was something she would never touch again once this living nightmare with their spirit was finished. So they'd need to find a Knight willing to give up a demon sword.

"I think if we start with, like, the really old exorcists first, we might have more luck," Rin said. "You know, they've already got one foot in the grave, what do they need a sword for?"

Daphne looked at him. "We don't need to ask anyone," she said.

"Well, we can't just take it by _force_ , Daph."

"No, I mean, we don't need to ask because _I_ have a blade. Right here."

She drew Castor and Pollux, bonded Pollux to the back of her hand so she could draw Helen of Troy as well.

"Three, in fact."

Rin stared at her. " _Daph_."

She looked at the blades in her hands—their inscriptions, their harsh silver surfaces, their squared tips. They were as much a part of her as her own soul. They shared her body in a similar way as her own children. She smiled, thinking of the parallel. She carried two sets of twins: Castor and Pollux, and Shiro and Easter.

"You're really willing to do that?" Rin asked.

She nodded. "Of course."

"But, these—they…they're your _blades_ , Daphne. Giving one of them up would change everything."

She smiled, carefully sheathed the swords one by one in the back of her neck.

"Lots of things are going to have to change, Rin," she said. "If giving up one of my blades is what it takes to keep my children safe, I'll do it. No second thoughts. No regrets."

When she looked at him, she found his eyes had filled with tears and his bottom lip was trembling. She laughed, taking him into her arms.

"You're the most amazing person I think I've ever met," Rin said, letting out a little sob against her shoulder.

Daphne smiled, kissed his cheek. "And I still can't believe you agreed to be my husband."


	35. Chapter 35

March that year came in like a lamb. The air was softer than usual, less bitter. There were fewer showers, but plenty of clouds, and they rolled through Academy Town on almost-warm breezes. Daphne couldn't help feeling that the old adage might prove true—that March, having been so gentle to begin with, would go out like a lion—but that didn't mean the reprieve was unwelcome.

Mephisto summoned herself and Rin to his office the morning of the seventh.

"Please," he said and gestured to the set of chairs in front of his desk.

Exchanging glances, Rin and Daphne sat.

The demon king was quiet as he sat with a flourish, quiet as he put his chin in his hand. Mephisto seemed lost behind his eyes—lost in thought, or perhaps in how to phrase those thoughts to Rin and Daphne.

"I have…liaised with Spirit," he said, and the way he spoke that last word earned it a capital letter. Spirit was their spirit's name. "On numerous occasions. Over these past several months."

Daphne frowned. "How?"

"It is my spell, Miss Lux, I may enter its effects freely if I choose."

He practically barked at her. Daphne lowered her eyebrows. Mephisto sighed.

"Apologies," he said.

"That's all right," Daphne replied, her voice soft.

Silence fell in the office once more.

She didn't know what to make of it, and by the look on Rin's face, neither did he. If Mephisto had spoken with Spirit, what had he learned? If he had learned _anything_ , why hadn't he shared it with them? She studied the demon king and waited for him to continue. He looked almost…haggard, if that was possible for Mephisto. It was rare to see him vulnerable, but lately that seemed to be the flavor of the day. Daphne didn't like it. Never would she have thought she might appreciate a return of the cryptic, implacable puppetmaster Mephisto usually was. Eventually, he looked up.

"She has made numerous threats," he said. "Against myself, and the rest of the kings. She feels no loyalty to demons of any kind, which is understandable given her treatment. I'm beginning to fear that in conversing with her, I may have done more harm than good."

"What does she want?" Rin asked.

"A family," Mephisto replied.

The response sent a chill through Daphne's blood.

"A family?" she replied, though she did not mean to speak aloud.

"Mm." Mephisto knitted his fingers together and propped his chin upon them. "Connectivity. To be at one with someone, or several someones."

"And her plan?"

Mephisto shook his head. "As of this morning, she will no longer speak with me. I fear the strength of my containment spell might soon wear thin."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Daphne asked, almost demanded.

"There was little to tell, Miss Lux," Mephisto responded. "Talking with Spirit is like talking in circles, and I cannot spend long inside the spell or risk destabilizing it further." He shook his head. "The only demon she has not made threats against is you, dear brother."

Rin sat up with a small jolt. "Me?"

Mephisto nodded.

Daphne tried to share a glance with Rin, but his eyes had gone blank, staring at his lap, so she looked to Mephisto instead.

"Do you think that means we're safe?"

A humorless smile curled the corners of his mouth. "On the contrary."

"She felt I'd betrayed her," Rin put in, barely over a whisper. "When we summoned her and but her in that box-thing, she shouted something about betrayal." He lifted his eyes and flicked a worried gaze between the two of them.

"Her plan, whatever it is, likely centers around the two of you," Mephisto said. "For as much as her hatred of the demon kings is real, she feels no connection with us, or any other demons for that matter. I am uncertain why, but she has attached herself to the two of you." He pursed his lips. "Harm at the hands of a being you despise is one thing, but from someone you consider kin…"

Daphne swallowed.

Mephisto locked eyes with her. "It hurts ever so much more."

Her hands fell instinctively over her stomach, over the two tiny lives that flickered therein. The past eight months had been a waiting game, but she and Rin had been too distracted—both by worry and euphoria—to make plans of their own. She'd let her concern for Spirit fall to the wayside, and she realized now that perhaps that had been a mistake.

"How much time do we have?" she asked Mephisto.

"No more than a matter of months," he replied. The words caused Daphne's pulse to spike. "I am certain of that. I'll no longer enter the spell, which may help it stabilize, but all evidence points to Spirit _actively_ working to free herself."

"And Akiyama?" Rin asked. "What has she learned?"

"Much," Mephisto replied. "None of it helpful."

Daphne grit her teeth and kept an irritated comment to herself. If the woman wasn't going to prove helpful, why bring her out? But she reminded herself of Akiyama's previous work in summoning and containing Spirit, all the things she herself had suffered at the demon's hands. Nine members of her team dead. Eight months of fruitless research.

"What do we do, Mephisto?" Rin asked.

The demon king shook his head. "I cannot tell," he replied. "For the first time in my life, I truly do not know where any of these roads may lead."

Silence again. Chill and deafening silence. Daphne looked at Rin, but he simply shook his head. Baffled, the both of them. The twins fell still inside her.

"I'm sorry I cannot do more than provide warning," Mephisto finally added.

Rin drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Warning is warning. We'll take what we can get." Glancing at Daphne, he reached across the space between their chairs to take her hand. "I wish we had more to go on."

"If there is anything I can do to help, do not hesitate to ask," Mephisto said. "Director Akiyama is working tirelessly. As am I. I assure you."

Rin's fingers squeezed tight around hers. Daphne returned the gesture.

"We know, Mephisto," he said.

The words seemed to comfort the demon king, if only a little. He released a slight breath from his nose and let the tension in his shoulders ease. A small smile graced his mouth and he nodded at the two of them.

"I am remiss in not thanking you for your trust throughout the years," he said. "You're invaluable exorcists. The both of you."

Daphne couldn't help smiling a little herself. "We'll always be here to pull your ass out of the fire," she said, and earned a laugh from Mephisto. "And while I'm not sure you've always had _our_ best interest at heart, I'm glad we're on the same side. Thank _you_."

Mephisto grinned. "Sometimes I think you understand me a little too well, Miss Lux."

Daphne shrugged. "We're similar people. It's part of the reason we don't always get along."

His toothy grin settled into a pleased smile and his eyes flicked briefly to Rin as if to share in an appreciative expression, but Rin mostly looked confused. Mephisto chuckled.

"I only hope that between the three of us we'll be able to handle what is coming."

* * *

Rin lost focus after that meeting with Mephisto. The rest of his day passed in a nebulous blur of easy exorcisms and cram school teaching underscored by a vague sense of dread. Spirit was coming back. That had always been certain, but never quite so close. He didn't really know what to think—much less _do_ —about it.

In a rare show of arms, Daphne was cooking when he arrived home. Two hamburger patties sizzled in a pan in front of her, and she lay a slice of cheese on each as he entered the kitchen. They smelled amazing. As did the French fries in the oven.

" _Oh, say can you see,_ " Rin sang, coming up behind Daphne to wrap her in a hug.

She laughed, leaning against him in this lovely, friendly way that made Rin's heart go all warm. Turning her head to the side, she touched a kiss to his cheek.

"Pretty good pronunciation there," she said with a smile.

"Thank you." He settled his chin on her shoulder and was quiet for a moment. "What's this for?"

"I knew you'd be stressed today," she replied, fishing the patties out of the pan and setting them each on a pair of buns she'd already toasted. "Given the…news. I wanted to do something for you."

She kept talking even as Rin pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

"You've done so much for _me_ , and I also really wanted cheeseburgers."

Rin laughed. "Lucky me."

Daphne turned off the burner on the oven and titled her head back to smile at him. "Lucky _me_."

They set the table together and sat down to eat. It was almost hard to believe how different the vibe in their house was from the vibe that had dominated the whole front end of his day. Sort of like the outside world didn't exist. Daphne seemed to sense that Rin wasn't ready to talk about what Mephisto had told them that morning, so she left it alone, and the pair of them settled into conversation about the only thing either of them were capable of talking about at the moment: the twins.

"Shiro's still not gaining the weight they'd like him to," Daphne said. "He's still several pounds smaller than Easter, but healthy."

"That's what the nurse said?"

Dapnhe nodded. "They're not worried about him. Not yet, but if Easter keeps growing, and he doesn't, that might change."

"He might not inherit the flame, if that's the case."

Daphne raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

Rin shrugged. "Yukio was too small or weak or something when we were born to sustain it," he replied. "But he still got a temptaint, and, well…is kind of crazy good at being an exorcist? So being in the sire line has affected him _somehow_."

Daphne let her breath out. "I wish we knew."

Rin nodded. "Me too."

They did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, made their way quietly to bed and curled up side-by-side, neither of them aware that they would know much sooner than they thought. Several weeks sooner.

It was maybe only two hours later that Daphne shook Rin awake, her grip tight on his arm, her teeth grit like she was in pain.

"I think I'm in labor," she said.


	36. Chapter 36

Rin was a half-demon—literal _demonic_ blood ran through his veins—but he hadn't truly seen hell until seeing Daphne in labor. And this was _Daphne_ he was talking about. Major Daphne Olivia Lux Okumura, the strongest person he had ever met, the woman who had fought and killed unimaginably powerful demons, the exorcist who could take hits like a tank. The pain now had her yelling like Rin had never seen.

And, Jesus, he felt useless.

Daphne's latest cry at the round of contractions died in her throat, and she gasped for air, then glared at him from her seat on the edge of the bed.

"Goddamn it, Rin," she hissed through her teeth, wiping the sweat from her upper lip. "Don't stop. For godsake, don't stop. I'm fine. I'm fine."

He'd been collecting the stuff they'd need for the hospital. The doctor had told them to pack a bag and keep it ready, but the twins weren't due until the end of the month, so they hadn't had anything set, and their hospital bag was a little more complicated than the average parent's, but then Daphne had started _screaming_ —

" _Rin!_ "

"Right! Sorry!"

Jolting to attention, he scurried around the room, just grabbing random shit. He went into the bathroom—toothbrush, toothpaste, tissues, floss, chapstick, hairbrush, bobby pins? Jesus, he didn't know. He went into the closet—clean clothes, underwear, a coat, socks? Did they need socks? When he emerged, Daphne was halfway through pulling Castor out of her back and her teeth were gritted in this expression of intense pain, so Rin dropped the bag and hurried over to the bed to help her. She gasped when the sword came free.

"Do you want these out?" Rin asked.

"No, I started drawing them because it seemed like fun— _yes I want them out!_ "

Rin shut up and pulled when Pollux's grip emerged from the seal. He was surprised at the amount of effort it took to actually remove the sword. It was like the seal had tightened or something. The blade was a little bit hot, too, which was weird given how icy Daph's swords typically felt. Helen of Troy was easier, probably because it was short.

" _Thank you_ ," Daphne breathed.

Having the blades in his hands, Rin suddenly remembered the most important thing they would need to bring to the hospital.

"Shit!" he cried, then bolted down the hall to hunt for Aokaze in the twins' bedroom. The sword was right where he'd left it, but in his panic it took longer to find. He brought it back to the bedroom and tossed it into the open bag.

"Will you carry…" Daphne's breath came heavy. "Will you carry mine in your seals?"

He nodded. "I might let them cool off first, though."

She nodded back, squeezing her eyes shut, drawing in one deep breath after another. Eventually her breathing slowed, but she didn't look much better.

"I don't think it's supposed to hurt this much," she said. "Not this soon."

"Do you wanna go to the hospital now?"

Daphne didn't answer for a second. Her entire face had pulled together in an effort to withstand the pain. Eventually, letting her breath out, she nodded. Rin called a cab right away.

While they waited, he finished with the hospital travel bag and sheathed Daphne's blades in their seals on his back. It hurt, but he didn't dare complain—not when Daphne was literally in the process of giving birth to not one, but _two_ demon hell spawn. Though he probably shouldn't refer to his own children as "demon hell spawn." Jesus, he was stressed the hell out. So much so that he jumped when his phone rang. It was the cab driver, letting them know he was outside.

"You ready to go, Daph?" he asked.

She hadn't really moved from her place on the edge of the bed. Her fingers gripped deep in the sheets and mattress, and she was sweating like crazy. She'd pulled her hair up into a bun, but sweat still poured down the back of her neck. Her skin was somehow both flushed and pale at the same time. She nodded.

Rin helped her to her feet and supported her down the hallway and the stairs, into her shoes, and out the door. She gripped his hand like she'd gripped the mattress, and _that_ hurt, but, again, he wasn't about to complain.

"The hospital, please," Rin told their driver.

He felt kind of bad for the guy. It was late, and raining, and another round of contractions hit while they were in the car, so naturally Daphne yelled the whole time. He was really nice about it, though. He even offered to stay and help Daphne inside and make sure they got admitted okay, but Rin told him that was all right. Daphne's death-grip probably would have broken the guy's hand, and that was not something they needed to deal with on top of everything else right now.

The hospital staff, to their credit, recognized that this was an emergency situation and got the pair of them settled at lightning speed.

"You're sure you don't want an epidural?" the nurse asked Daphne for about the hundredth time. Daphne _glared_ at her, and the woman shut up immediately. She said, "I'll see if the doctor is ready," and practically ran away.

"Did you call Yukio and Shiemi? And Shura?" Daphne asked. She lay back on the hospital bed and breathed deeply, trying to manage the pain.

Rin shook his head. "Not yet, but I will right now, if you want?"

"Father Michael, too," she said.

Though he was reluctant to leave her, their room didn't have any cell service, so Rin had to wander around the hospital until he found enough bars to call. Thankfully, Yukio answered on the first ring.

"Daphne's in labor," Rin said without so much as a hello. "I don't know how long it's gonna take, but if you guys could get here when you can, that would be great."

"You remembered the demon sword?" Yukio asked.

Had Rin not been in a persistent half-panic, he would have taken offense at that. As it was, he just said, "Yeah. Yeah, I got it. It's ready to go, and I've got Daphne's blades in my seals, but we'll need help doing the ceremony ritual thing."

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Yukio replied.

They hung up, and Rin dialed Shura.

"The hell do you want, demon boy?" she shouted over the noise of wherever it was that she was. "It's pub quiz night!"

"Daphne's in labor," Rin replied.

" _Shit_. Say no more."

She ended the call, and Rin stood in the hallway for a second. His hands started to shake. In a matter of _hours,_ he'd be a dad. A real, honest-to-god dad. They'd talked about it and tried so hard and wanted it—really _wanted_ it—but now, on the brink of that reality, he was a little bit terrified. What right did _he_ have to raise a kid? This was a permanent change. His life could never go back to being the way that it was.

Then again, maybe that was a good thing.

He pulled himself together and sent a text in broken English to Father Michael that he hoped would communicate his meaning well enough. One could never be too sure about Google Translate. Then he returned to the hospital room where Daphne was talking with the doctor. The woman was a specialist and, though not an exorcist, had a temptaint, so she was pretty knowledgeable about demons. Rin had only met her a handful of times, but he knew she knew her stuff. They were lucky to have found somebody "specialist" enough to deal with their particular case.

"Your body temperature is rising because you're acting as a gate," the doctor was saying. "At least, that's the best I can figure. You're bringing living beings with demon blood into the world, so for all intents and purposes you're a gateway between Assiah and Gehenna right now."

"Great," Daphne grumbled.

The doctor chuckled. "It'll be over soon enough. Luckily, your body has had plenty of practice, carrying your demon blades."

Daphne nodded. Her eyebrows pulled together in pain, and Rin came forward to take hold of her hand. It was ridiculously slippery with sweat. Daphne gripped on all the same, so tight she probably would have drawn blood had her nails been even a fraction longer.

"Did you get a hold of everyone?" she asked through her teeth.

"Shura and Yukio and Shiemi are on their way." His phone buzzed in his back pocket, so he fished it out and showed the screen, and the text from Father Michael, to Daphne.

"He says he'll be on the soonest possible flight," she reported.

Tucking the phone away, Rin nodded. He couldn't take his eyes off Daphne's face, couldn't stop searching for signs of danger or damage. If only there was something he could _do_. As it was, he just stood there and stroked the back of her hand and her arm. Somehow, she found the means to smile at him.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

Rin drew in a deep breath and smiled back. "Absolutely."

* * *

It took Yukio and Shiemi about forty-five minutes to finally show up, but when they did, Shiemi had food packed and tea brewed and had brought more with her than Rin would have thought it possible to carry—blankets, changes of clothes, books, movies, toiletries. She looked like she was ready to go camping, minus a tent and sleeping bags.

Daphne practically swallowed a sandwich whole, and gratefully drank some of Shiemi's jasmine tea after she'd gone down the hall to get ice from the machine at the nurses' station to cool it down. Shiemi wrapped some of the ice up in a plastic bag and cushioned it against the back of Daphne's neck, then rinsed one of the washcloths she'd brought in cold water and wiped down Daphne's face. She was remarkably calm for someone usually so excitable, but her soothing energy was a welcome one—for Rin as well.

Yukio went to work preparing Aokaze for the ritual, and Shura stepped in to help as soon as she arrived. They made quite a scene, the five of them in the hospital room, and kept getting strange looks from the nurses, but then Daphne would glare, and they'd leave without saying anything.

"We're finished with Aokaze," Shura said, coming over to the hospital bed to give Daphne a thumbs up. "Which of your blades do you want us to prep?"

Daphne shook her head. "I don't care. All of them. Whichever is going to— _ah_ —be the most receptive— _ow, Christ._ "

"You got it, momma," Shura said.

She went to Rin and flipped him around with very little decorum, then patted his shoulder as a cue to release the blades from their seals. It was a bit of a struggle, trying to draw them around his shirt collar, but they managed, and Shura took all three of Daphne's blades over to where she was working with Yukio.

Shiemi returned to her seat on the other side of Daphne's bed, opposite Rin, and replaced the washcloth over Daphne's forehead with a fresh one. She frowned, feeling the old cloth.

"It's so hot," she said. "Maybe we should wrap some ice in them."

"I wouldn't say no," Daphne breathed. "I'm kind of a human Gehenna gate right now."

Nodding, setting her lips in a determined line, Shiemi rose again and collected the baggie from behind Daphne's neck.

"I'll be right back," she said and scurried from the room.

"Looks like it's gonna be Castor, Daph," Shura called. "That okay?"

"Literally could not care less at the moment," Daphne replied.

"Roger!"

As the night wore on, the time between Daphne's contractions grew shorter and shorter, and around eleven, it was time to push. Yukio and Shiemi and Shura were banished from the room for that, and Rin's panic-mode kicked into high gear.

Yelling, counting, breathing, pushing.

Pause.

Yelling, counting, breathing, pushing.

Pause. Holy shit, this was it.

Yelling, counting, breathing, pushing.

Pause—pause, pause, _pause_. He wasn't ready. Holy shit, he was _not_ _READY_.

Yelling, counting, breathing, pushing, pushing, pushing, still pushing—

Crying.

Not him, not Daphne, but a new voice. A tiny voice. Rin looked, and there was the first of the twins, covered in blood and birth fluid, but so, so beautiful, surrounded by soft blue flame.

"Our boy first," the doctor said, her eyes crinkling in a smile behind her mask as she held the mewling baby up for Daphne to see. Daphne laughed, smiling too, relieved a little, but only as much as she could be when there was another baby still on the way. The doctor passed the boy off to a nurse to get him cleaned up, and refocused her attention on Daphne.

Fifteen minutes later, at 12:03 the next morning, their girl arrived.

She cried twice as loud, and the flames around her were brighter, stronger. They didn't move her away, but brought her up and settled her in Daphne's arms.

She was so small, and the blue flame was small around her—like the single point on the end of a candle wick. She even had a little tail, just like Rin's. It flicked back and forth and then lay still as the baby relaxed on Daphne's chest. Daphne shut her eyes.

Rin sat and stared at them both. He couldn't help reaching out and stroking the baby's cheek, her back, in spite of how messy she was. She was so _soft_. Her hair was soft, too—thick and black. She grunted—if you could call it that, it was more like a squeak—and shifted her head around, flexing her tiny, tiny fingers. Tears filled Rin's eyes.

"I love her," he whispered.

Daphne's eyes flickered open and a tired smile crossed her mouth when she looked at Rin and found him sniffling.

"She's perfect," he added, wiping his nose.

Smiling, Daphne shut her eyes again. They lay silent for a long time in the hospital quiet, Rin marveling at his daughter as she fell asleep. Daphne started to drift, too, but a doctor came into the room and brought them both to attention, Daphne reaching out to grab Rin's hand.

"The boy is stable," she said with a kind smile and both of them eased. "He retained some fetal lung fluid, a condition called transient tachypnea. But it's nothing too serious. We've got him settled and on oxygen. We'll know within twelve hours if he's responding to it."

"And that's all?" Rin asked.

The doctor nodded. "Mm. Symptoms usually resolve within three days, and he shouldn't see any lasting health effects. He's ready for visitors now, if you'd like, Mr. Okumura?"

Desperate to go, but reluctant to leave, Rin looked to Daphne and she nodded urgently, letting go of his hand.

"Please, Rin," she said, still nodding.

So Rin got up, his heart beating fast, and he followed the doctor to the special care unit and into the room where the baby boy was lying in a hospital bassinet. He was even smaller than the girl, and the nurses had wrapped him up and put him under a heat lamp. He had an oxygen tube wrapped around his head and in his nose and he was breathing so quickly, his nostrils flaring. His skin looked a little blue, but Rin couldn't tell if that was a symptom of his condition or a refraction of the weak flame that surrounded him.

"Can I touch him?" Rin asked.

The doctor nodded, gesturing to a hand wash station in the corner of the room. When Rin returned, the doctor had pulled up a stool alongside the bassinet. Rin sat down.

"I'll be right outside, and there are nurses monitoring his vitals," the doctor said and left.

Rin got close, lowering his face down right beside the bassinet. He reached a hand in and carefully brushed a finger down the baby's cheek, over his scalp and the black hair that covered it. His rapid breathing did not slow, but he did open his eyes. They were bright blue—which was odd given that babies typically had dark eyes—and Rin watched as the flames died and the baby's eyes grew even brighter.

"Hi, little guy," Rin said, softly because he wasn't sure if the baby's hearing was sensitive. "I'm your dad. Weird, huh?"

The boy tried to focus those bright eyes on Rin, intent even though his vision was fuzzy for sure.

"It's gonna be okay. We're gonna make sure you feel good and you'll get to meet your mom. She's gonna love you." The tears Rin had been holding in finally ran down his cheeks. "We're gonna take such good care of you. I promise." He drew in a shaky breath—so relieved and so, so happy.

"I promise."

* * *

 _Author's Note: Hi, everyone! Thanks ENDLESSLY for your patience with me on this project! I'm so excited to get back into it. The babies are here at last! Haha! I can't promise weekly updates, but I CAN promise that I won't go two months without an update again. Let me know what you think! I love reading your comments!_


	37. Chapter 37

Daphne held her Easter in her arms. She was the most exquisite thing the new mother had ever seen. Little round face. Little round nose. Little round fingers and a tail just like Rin's. Her hair was so dark and the blue flame so bright. It was a welcome warmth against Daphne's skin. Her sweat had cooled and chilled her now that the birth was over, but Easter kept her cozy.

She hardly noticed the afterbirth—exhausted, half-asleep, and absorbed entirely in her daughter. Eventually, Daphne did fall asleep with Easter asleep on her chest, and when she woke up, the baby was gone and Rin was back. She started, but her husband offered a smile.

"Just a check-up," he said. "They'll bring her back."

"And Shiro?" Daphne asked. Her voice sounded like sandpaper.

"He didn't sustain the flame," Rin said, "and he doesn't have a tail, but he's amazing, Daph. He's just _tiny_ , but he's got this crazy aura. Wait until you feel it."

Tears filled Daphne's eyes and she smiled so hard that they spilled over. Rin bent over her hospital bed, took her face in his hands, and kissed her. She held onto him, kissed him back.

"You were incredible, Daph," he said, pulling away for a moment to look in her eyes, brush his thumbs across her cheeks, before kissing her again. "Jesus, I don't know how you did it. I couldn't have done it. I love you so much."

She laughed. "I don't know how I did it either." Reaching a hand up, she carded her fingers in Rin's hair and pressed his forehead to hers. "And I love you."

"We're parents," Rin said with a disbelieving laugh.

Daphne opened her eyes to grin at him. "We must be crazy."

Nodding, Rin pulled back, but laced their fingers together and took a seat on the edge of the hospital bed.

"Thank you," he said.

"For what?"

He shrugged. "For agreeing to marry me and being such an amazing wife and giving birth and just, like, everything." He looked at her and smiled. The expression was so warm and genuine. It made Daphne's heart hurt a little. She lifted his hand to her lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it.

"You are the best thing that ever happened to me," she said. "And I have a feeling our children will be the best thing that ever happened to _us_."

Rin leaned down and kissed her again. Daphne disappeared into the affection for a moment—into the warmth and steadiness and security Rin provided. When he pulled back, exhaustion crept in again, and she found her eyes drifting shut.

"I think you're right," Rin said.

She fell back asleep after that and slept more soundly than she had in months.

* * *

Rin slept a little himself until a nurse returned with Easter. It was weird—he just kind of snapped awake, his demon sense going off like an alarm. His heartrate did not slow after he realized there wasn't a threat, though. It increased, happy with anticipation.

The nurse brought Easter in a little hospital bassinet, and Rin hardly noticed the woman leave. The baby was big compared to her brother, but still undersize, having been born early. She was wrapped in a blanket and had a tiny white hat pulled snug over her head. The tuft of her tail peeked out by her neck, gentle blue flame glowing at the tip. The rest of the flames had focused into two points on her head—where her horns would have been had she had them.

Fighting that urge that makes people want to squish cute things really hard, Rin picked Easter up and cradled her so, so close. The baby stirred, squeaking and freeing one of her arms.

"Hello, beautiful," he said, lifting his free hand and touching his finger to her palm.

Easter wrapped her fingers around his, and her grip was surprisingly strong.

Tears filled Rin's eyes all over again.

A soft knock at the door, and Shiemi poked her head into the room. Rin looked over, then smiled and nodded when Shiemi raised her eyebrows.

"Daph's out like a light," he whispered.

Shiemi slipped inside and was followed by Yukio, then Shura. The latter marched up to Rin and Easter, but hesitated, her face contorting in a bizarre expression—something like she didn't want to cry, or think the baby was cute, but definitely, definitely did. Shiemi did not hesitate, but came and stood at Rin's side and peered over his shoulder at his new little girl.

"She's wonderful, Rin," Shiemi said, voice soft, sniffing and wiping her eyes.

Yukio was not far behind, clapping Rin on the shoulder and smiling at Easter. "Welcome to the sire line, little girl."

The three of them turned to Shura, who by now had snot and tears streaming down her face.

"C-can I h-hold her?" she sobbed.

Laughing, Rin nodded. "But clean yourself up first."

Shura sniffed her way over to the sink station in the corner of the room and blew her nose before washing her hands. When she came back, Rin transferred Easter into her arms. Shura took one look down at her and started sobbing all over again.

"Goddamn it, Rin, I l-love her so much."

Rin laughed. "Tell me about it."

"Where is Shiro?" Shiemi asked, touching a gentle hand to Rin's elbow.

"He's in a special care unit," Rin replied. "He had some fluid in his lungs, but he'll be fine. When Daphne wakes up, we can go and see him, I bet."

"We should perform the sealing ceremony as soon as possible," Yukio said. He'd gone to wash his hands and now was slipping his finger into Easter's tiny grip. A smile crossed his mouth. "We'll need Daphne for that as well."

"She'll be stronger after some sleep," Shiemi replied.

"Is Father Michael coming?" Shura asked.

Rin nodded. "He's on his way. Somebody will probably have to go meet him at the airport."

"I'll go," Shiemi said.

The four of them went quiet, just admiring Easter. Rin should have realized _long_ before then that when things inevitably went to hell with either Spirit or Satan or both, it wouldn't be him and Daphne alone against the adversary. Shiro and Easter had plenty of powerful people already on their team. And something told him they would make pretty formidable fighters themselves someday.

Everyone in that room would make sure they grew up safe.


	38. Chapter 38

Though a little wobbly, Daphne was strong enough after she woke to walk to the care unit where Shiro was being kept. It was a strange sensation, she noted, to feel like she was meeting someone for the first time when that person had been living inside her for the last eight months. Biology was strange. Motherhood even stranger.

The nurses admitted her to the unit, but the moment they opened the door, Daphne stopped dead in her tracks.

The room was _full_ of demons.

Sprites, goblins, chuchi, coltars—even some larger medium class creatures in the various deformed shapes of animals. Demons of all five elements, and across all eight affiliations, were present, but they were just…there. Harming nothing, silent. Tame. They turned to look at Daphne as she came in.

"Holy _shit!_ " Rin cried in the doorway right behind her.

His hand was halfway to drawing Kurikara from its seal, but Daphne reached up to stop him. The demons turned their eyes to Rin. And bowed. Bewildered, Rin let his arm fall to his side.

"What the _hell…_?" he said.

As the demons lifted their various heads, one came forward from the ranks. Both Rin and Daphne tensed, ready to attack, but for whatever reason, the response felt wrong somehow. The demons in the room were not biding their time waiting to strike, did not give off the impression of having been caught about to do some terrible deed. The demon that had approached was one in the form of a bat, and a little jolt went through Rin as the demon came to a stop.

"Did it speak to you?" Daphne asked.

Rin nodded, blinking, listening still, apparently.

"What did it say?"

"He says his name is Komori, and he brings greetings from Gehenna to Leda and the Wayward Prince. I guess that's us?" Rin jolted again and returned his attention to the demon. "He's, um…he says they were called here by—by the aura of the child of light and dark? That mean anything to you?"

Daphne's eyes went straight to Shiro. Her son was asleep under an oxygen hood, bundled and breathing rapidly. The demons, though their attention was now on Rin and Daphne, had surrounded Shiro's bassinet in a circle.

"They're familiars," she said.

The bat demon—Komori—bowed once more.

Even as Daphne cast her eyes around the room, more and more demons manifested. They came quietly, without fuss, and fell into rank and file without so much as a whisper of discontent.

"Oh, um, he says 'the child is their master now and they will attend him unerringly,'" Rin said, eyes on Komori as he acted as translator. ''It is their honor to serve the family of Satan.' Satan be praised—stuff like that…"

Daphne looked at Komori. "He's a newborn."

The bat turned to her.

"'Great power flows through him,'" Rin supplied. "'He called us to manifest.'"

"And can he dismiss you?" she asked, disbelieving.

At once, ever demon in the room disappeared. Rin and Daphne jumped. Daphne's eyes flicked to the bassinet. Shiro was awake. His breathing had not slowed, but neither did he cry. She went to him and looked down at her son, leaning close. His bright blue eyes found her face with surprising acuity and focus.

He was a newborn, yes, but there was something ancient in that gaze.

Komori manifested above the bassinet and drew Rin and Daphne's attention.

"'We will come when he calls,'" Rin translated. "'It is our duty to serve the Newborn Prince, honor and obedience to his family. Hail Leda. Hail the Wayward Prince. Hail the Blue Princess. Honor to Satan. Honor to Satan'… He just keeps saying 'Honor to Satan.'"

"Thank you, Komori…" Daphne said, her voice a whisper. "You may leave us."

A final bow, and the bat vanished.

Rin looked at Daphne, his eyes the size of dinner plates. "What the hell just happened?"

"Well, Rin," Daphne replied, reaching into the bassinet to stroke her son's cheek. Shiro shut his eyes and pressed into her touch. "I think we've just given birth to a Tamer."

* * *

Everything was ready to go for the sealing ceremony by the time Shiemi returned from the airport with Father Michael in tow. Rin could tell even as he greeted everyone that he and Daphne had so much they wanted to say to each other, but that would have to come later. The priest did give her a hug straight off, though.

" _How'd it go, kiddo?_ "

Daphne nodded. " _It was hell, but that was expected._ "

Father Michael laughed. He looked around the room, smiling, rolling up his sleeves. He located Shura and gave her a nod. "Good…uh…energy. _Daphne, will you tell her that the preparations for the room are excellent?_ "

Daphne relayed the information to Shura, and Shura nodded at Father Michael, then offered him Aokaze to examine.

"You wanna do a double check on that?" she asked.

Father Michael took the blade with keen interest and turned to give it a look. Shura gestured at him with her head as she came to stand by Rin.

"Is this guy trying to flirt with me?" she asked.

"He's a _priest_ ," Daphne laughed, having heard because Shura couldn't be quiet to save her life. "Not every compliment is a pass."

" _What did she say?_ " Michael asked.

" _She thinks you're trying to flirt with her_ ," Daphne replied.

Father Michael looked at Shura and held Aokaze out to her. He grinned and gave her a wink when she took the sword. Shura did not hesitate to smack his shoulder with the sheath, but it only made him laugh.

" _Where's our little girl, then?_ " he asked.

" _Here_ ," Daphne replied. She led him over to the side of the room where Easter was asleep in her bassinet. Careful, Daphne lifted the baby and held her for Father Michael to see. Easter let out a little mewl at being disturbed, and Michael chuckled.

" _She's beautiful_ ," he said, then looked to Rin. "Congratulations."

Rin started. "Thank you."

" _Let's get started_."

Daphne passed Easter to Rin. Shura handed Aokaze to Yukio, and Yukio moved to stand directly in front of Rin. Shiemi dimmed the lights and stood by the door to stop them from being interrupted. Rin looked down at his daughter in his arms as Father Michael, Shura, and Daphne linked hands and surrounded both him and Yukio. When Rin lifted his eyes, his brother smiled. Rin smiled back, then drew in a deep breath.

"It'll be all right, Rin," Yukio said. "She's got you."

Rin's breath caught in his throat. Shura and Michael and Daphne started chanting the sealing mantra. How many hours had Rin spent wondering how his life would have been different if he'd known he was half demon? If he added those hours up, how many days of wasted, wishful thinking would he have on his hands? Too many. If he'd known, he could have been there for Yukio. If he'd known, they could have worked together with Fujimoto to find a solution to the problems that plagued them. If he'd known, if he'd had a _guide_ , the world would look different. He was certain of that.

He was also certain, however, that he couldn't change the past. He couldn't take anything back or add anything in. It was what it was, and he had found so many ways to be happy in the present. The past, at least, had taught him what to do. He would make sure Easter had the kind of childhood he wished he could have given himself.

A gentle, swirling wind picked up in the room, surrounding them all in a warm embrace. Bright blue runes began to glow on the ground at their feet, centered around Easter and Aokaze. The wind continued to rise, and as it did, the blue flames on Easter's head and tail were pulled into it. They circled the room in a cylindrical shape. Michael and Shura and Daphne continued to chant, their eyes shut.

Easter started to cry. Rin started, looking down at his daughter and panicking for a second over what he was supposed to do, but then Yukio said, " _Rin_ …" in this way that had Rin's attention in an instant. He glanced up and saw the misty figure that had formed over the blade Yukio held in his hands.

 _Sirelings_ , a voice whispered on the wind.

Rin could barely make the figure out. It wasn't human, and so he couldn't place an immediate shape to it. The mist was thin, and light, emanating from the exposed portion of the blade and constantly changing shape. Rin glanced at Daphne, then at Shura, but neither of them had broken from the mantra. So he looked at Yukio—the only other person who could see this figure and hear it speak.

 _You ask a great task of me…_

"Are…you…the spirit of the blade?" Rin asked.

 _I am Asuga. You are Satan's sons._

Rin looked at Yukio and raised his eyebrows. Yukio shrugged.

 _You want me to…hold the heart of Satan's grandchild…_

"Yeah…um…is that okay?"

The voice—Asuga, Rin supposed—released this strange sleepy sound like it was stretching. The mist coming from the blade dissipated a little as it too was drawn into the wind. All around them, Asuga chuckled softly.

 _The child's mother is strong. So are her companions. It doesn't seem as though I have a choice._

"You do," Rin said without hesitation. Yukio regarded him in surprise, but Rin ignored him. Easter continued her pitiful little whimpers, so Rin bounced her instinctively. "You have a choice. So, um…we're asking you. Would you hold Easter's heart, please?"

 _Mmmmmmm…_

The gentle, musing note filled the room, then the mist coalesced again over the blade, though it was no more distinct than it had been before. Asuga's figure peered over the space between Rin and Yukio to look at Easter in Rin's arms. Easter quieted a little and opened her eyes.

 _She's very small._

"She'll get bigger."

 _Strange…_

Rin didn't know what to say. He'd asked permission. He'd given this demon an out, which might have been a bad idea, but at least they had Castor and Pollux and Helen of Troy as backups, right? Though, given the experience he'd had with those blades, he didn't get the impression their spirits would be nearly as relaxed as Asuga.

 _The strain might be too much for me,_ the spirit said. _Kurikara could not contain you, and your heart was the only thing_ in _the blade… Aokaze will have to hold me_ and _Easter? I do not know if that is possible._

"It is," Yukio put in. "We have witnessed it."

 _Mmmmmmm…_

Rin held his breath. The chanting continued. Easter had stopped making noise, but fat tears still rolled out of the corners of her eyes.

 _All right_.

Aokaze's sheath snapped shut. At once, the ritual ended. The wind stopped, the bright blue light of the runes went out, and Easter's flames disappeared. Along with her tail. Rin blinked, looking up, then over at Daphne.

"Did it work?" she asked, out of breath. Father Michael and Shura had to steady her.

Rin nodded. "Yeah…yeah, actually… _it did_."

He laughed, and Daphne heaved an enormous sigh of relief. She and Shura and Father Michael broke the ring around them, then, and Shiemi turned the lights back on. Yukio held Aokaze to Daphne, and she took it, held it, shut her eyes and focused deeply. A smile slowly spread across her mouth.

"Good?" Shura asked.

Nodding, Daphne reached to take Easter from Rin and traded him Aokaze. He just looked at her, puzzled.

"Go ahead," she said. "Unsheathe it."

Rin's heart jumpstarted. He looked at the katana in his hands, at his wife, then his daughter. For one moment more, he hesitated—wondering if this was the right choice. Then he looked at Yukio, and his brother gave him a firm nod.

Rin drew Aokaze.

A rumbling shook the walls, and a gentle wind again swirled around the room. Blue flames burst forth on Easter's head and tail, then settled. Her tail reappeared and her ears went all pointy. Rin slid the Aokaze back into its sheath. The flame disappeared, but the tail remained. He clutched the sword tight.

"Thank you," he whispered.

In response, the Aokaze seemed to purr in his hands.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Merry Everything, everybody!_


	39. Chapter 39

Two days later, as soon as Shiro received a clean bill of health from the doctors, Rin and Daphne took their children home. Father Michael—who would be staying with them—and Shiemi had seen to their house while they were away, made sure everything was in place for the twins' arrival. Even so, as they got out of the taxis and struggled to free to car seats from the back, the one thing they'd forgotten became immediately clear.

Every last one of Shiro's familiars manifested on the street.

" _Good god!_ " Father Michael shouted, dropping the potted plant some of the teachers at True Cross had sent to Daphne. He caught it before it landed on the street. " _What on—_ "

Daphne gave a weary sigh. " _They're Shiro's, Michael. It's fine._ "

She hadn't slept much at the hospital between feedings and bonding and lessons from the nurses and generally being in a lot of pain herself. She looked at Rin, who had Easter's car seat, and traded him for Shiro.

"Will you find Komori and talk to them?" she asked.

Rin nodded. Daphne gave him a grateful kiss on the cheek, then took Easter inside. Father Michael glanced at Rin, his expression alarmed and eyebrows raised. Rin gave him a smile and a thumbs up. The priest went inside, but looked incredibly uncertain. Rin caught him peeking through the front window.

"Hey—uh…bat…guy," Rin called into the throng of demons. Daphne had _just_ said the damn thing's name and he'd already forgotten. "Where are you?"

The demons parted to allow the big bat-shaped one through. Rin couldn't remember how many demons there had been at the hospital, but there were _definitely_ more now. They filled up the entire street in front of his and Daphne's house, and even leaked into their neighbors' areas a bit. The bat gave Rin a respectful bow as Rin juggled Shiro's car seat and diaper bag.

 _Greetings, Wayward Prince,_ it said.

"Yeah, hi. Um… _Jesus,_ there are a lot of you." He glanced around the gathering of demons. It was unnerving to see so many of them being so well-behaved.

 _More have been called, and still more shall be called,_ it replied. _We have come to attend the Newborn Prince. Our numbers shall—_

"That's great. Could you, like…not take up the whole street?"

The bat waved one of its wings at the mass of demons and they skittered off the road, some of them taking to the air, others scrambling into neighbors' yards or up the sides of their houses. Rin sighed. That wasn't really what he'd meant.

"Did Shiro call you?" Rin asked.

 _Yes,_ the bat replied.

"Do you know why?"

 _It is not our place to question our master, only to do as he bids._

"Okay, dude—remind me your name?"

 _Komori_.

"Komori. He's a _baby_. He doesn't have a bidding. He can barely _see_. We can't have a whole throng of demons showing up every time he gets hungry or goes to a new place or needs his diaper changed." Rin raised his eyebrows for emphasis, but Komori didn't seem to understand. "Do you _all_ have to be here?"

 _We come when he calls_.

"Jesus…"

Rin juggled the car seat into his other hand. His arm was getting sore. He glanced down at Shiro when he did. The baby's eyes were shut and he was dozing peacefully.

"He's _asleep!_ " Rin said to Komori.

 _We were still summoned._

"Well, can you un-summon? Could you maybe set up a rotation or something? You can't all be here all the time, we'll go crazy." He glanced at the demons again. Most of them had shifted or craned their necks to get a better look at Shiro in his car seat when Rin had traded hands. Every last one watched his son with keen, devoted eyes. "One at a time?"

 _Like a watch?_ Komori tilted his head.

"Exactly like a watch. One of you can keep an eye on Shiro and report back to the others and trade. This—" He gestured at the gathering. "—is totally unnecessary."

 _We wish to ensure his safety_ , Komori said, looking skeptical.

"Yeah, no shit," Rin replied. He switched the car seat from hand to hand again, getting antsy. Again, the demons shifted to keep their eyes on Shiro. "I don't know if you've noticed, bat guy, but Shiro's _surrounded_ by exorcists. Between me, Daphne, and the rest of his family, we've kind of got that covered."

Komori hummed. _Yes. The prince's mother is formidable._

Rin glowered. "Uh-huh."

 _We will consider a watch_. The bat smiled—as much as a demon _could_ smile—but Rin just glared at him. _May we pay our respects to the Newborn Prince before we take our leave?_

"Sure," Rin sighed.

Agreeing turned out to be a big mistake, as the demons wanted to come up _individually_ and bow to the car seat. Shiro slept through the whole damn thing, and Rin had to stand outside while a parade of demons formed a line like a bunch of Disneyland patrons at a character meet-and-greet. It took like half an hour. Komori was last.

 _I will return with a decision about watches,_ he said after finishing his bow.

"Great," Rin replied through his teeth.

The bat demon disappeared and Rin grumbled inside. Almost the instant he crossed the threshold, Shiro woke up and _wailed_. Daphne rushed over to take the car seat so Rin could take his shoes off. As he did, the windows went black as all of Shiro's familiars reappeared. Komori pressed right against the glass of the front window.

 _We cannot come inside,_ he said. His eyes were red and panicked. All the demons scratched their claws on the outside of the house, trying to get in.

"Of course you can't!" Rin replied, exasperated. " _Exorcists_ live here. You think we don't have barrier spells coming out our asses?!"

"What the _hell_ is going on?" Daphne asked. She unbuckled Shiro and tried to soothe him.

 _We cannot protect the prince if we cannot come inside!_

"They want to come in," Rin said, looking back at Daphne.

She frowned, regarding the crazed demons through the window. Shiro cried and cried and cried and cried. Daphne continued to bounce him, but it didn't do any good.

"Do you think that's why he's crying?" she asked.

Rin threw up his arms in a massive shrug. "Hell if I know!"

"Komori!" Daphne shouted, stern and fierce. Even just the tone of her voice made the demon shrink. His eyes stayed red, but he stopped foaming at the mouth as much. "The barrier spells on this house protect us. Do you understand that?"

The demon nodded.

"If we let you in, will Shiro stop crying?"

 _The prince does not want to be separated from us. We do not want to be separated from the prince._

Rin relayed the message to Daphne. She nodded.

"We can make exceptions in the spells so that some of you can come in, but I will _not_ make that exception for all of you. Not until you've proved yourselves. Is _that_ understood?"

Again, the bat nodded.

"Good. Making those exceptions will take some time. I need you to relax. Nothing in this house is going to harm Shiro. All right?"

As he nodded a third time, some of the red light waned from Komori's eyes. The other demons also began to calm. They ceased scratching on the outside of the house. Rin hadn't noticed until he stopped doing it, but Father Michael had been muttering scripture under his breath that whole time, searching for fatal verses. He held a whimpering Easter in his arms. Rin gave him an appreciative nod.

" _Michael, we'll need to get to work on resetting my barrier spells_ ," Daphne said, looking to the priest. " _Some of Shiro's familiars will need to be given permission to enter._ "

Michael nodded. " _Perhaps Shura could help as well_."

" _I'll call her_. Komori."

The demon snapped to attention. "You and five others will be granted exceptions first."

 _Yes, Leda_.

Daphne couldn't hear him, but she kept talking anyway. "You can choose among yourselves, I don't care, but Father Michael and I will place bonds on you until we're certain you're trustworthy. If you cannot agree to that, you cannot come inside."

 _Yes, Leda. We will agree_.

"They're fine with it," Rin supplied.

Brow furrowed, Daphne nodded. She seemed to be processing their willingness to be bound without question or protest. Shiro had not stopped crying, but his tears had settled a little as the demons had. Rin stepped into his house slippers and went to take Shiro from Daphne.

"You get started," he said. "I'll watch the babies."

Daphne retrieved her phone and called Shura immediately. Rin took Shiro over to the window so he could look out at a group of chuchi who had swarmed the glass but now skittered across the pane like ordinary bugs. Shiro watched their movements with unnatural acuity for a newborn, his bright blue eyes big and wide.

"Rin."

He looked at Daphne.

"I think you should draw Kurikara," she said. "We're going to have to take the spells down and reset them. I don't want any extra risk."

"For sure."

The three of them moved quickly about their duties, then. Rin took charge of both babies, setting Easter and Shiro up in a pair of swing chairs in the middle of the room. Daphne brought him food and water and baby supplies and Aokaze and more than he could possibly need, then set up a barrier spell around the three of them specifically. Father Michael prepped the house. Rin drew Kurikara and his blue flames sprang to life. At his feet, Aokaze purred. Rin hesitated, but did eventually pick up the blade. He unsheathed it. Easter's little flames lit up as well.

When Shura arrived, her cursing was audible even from the street. She knocked on the door, so Daphne let her in, and the first thing she said was, "You know you've got a _hoard_ of demons on your house?"

Daphne stepped aside to let her in. "Exactly why I want to be careful when we take the barriers down. We don't know if all of them are actually Shiro's familiars. There could be hostiles in the mix."

Shura nodded, then looked to Father Michael. "Let's get going, priest boy."

Rin settled in to wait and keep an eye on the babies as the Arias got to work. Daphne ordered all the demons to move away from the house, and they obeyed. She drew in a deep breath, regarded Shura and Michael, then gave a firm nod.

Together, the three of them started chanting.

* * *

Across the city, in the girls' locker room on the top floor of the gym building at True Cross Academy, another barrier finally began to dissolve.


End file.
